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NYFW Continues to Show More Diversity On & Off The Runway

Every September in New York City the streets are a-buzz with excitement.

Not only is the weather beautiful but it’s Fashion Week!

New York Fashion Week (NYFW) has become a major time for plus size women to be in town, especially in September. There’s theCURVYcon happening and also several runway shows now include plus size models on the runway.

Whereas theCURVYcon is responsible for drawing most plus size women to the NYC area during this time, NYFW is slowly catching up.

At the beginning of this year, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) published an open letter, as a call to action for designers to be inclusive when casting for shows.

Steven Kolb, president and CEO of CFDA wrote:

“Diversity and inclusion are not a trend, but the way we should all be operating going forward. As the governing body of American fashion, the CFDA is committed to forging a path for a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive industry, and our recent briefing with PVH Corp. supports this important work.

As you cast your New York Fashion Week shows, please remember to promote diversity and inclusion, on and off the runway. American fashion can lead the path.”

Designers are still slow to include larger models on the runway and many of them don’t design pieces above a size 16, but there are some designers and brands who are pushing for more size diversity in the runway.

And we’re also seeing more plus size women attending NYFW as well, defying the stereotypes that we don’t wear stylish, designer clothing or dress boldly and fashionable.

As you can see, plus size women were slaying it the last week and we also spied some curvy fabulousness on the NYFW runways too.

Here’s the most notable curvy moments at NYFW so far:

Christian Siriano

Siriano is one of the few designers that has consistently used plus size models in his runway shows in the last few years. You can always bet on seeing some familiar faces strutting down the runway like Candice Huffine, Precious Lee, Ashley Graham, Marquita Pring and others.

Rene Tyler Designs

Known as the only plus size boutique in the famed Grand Canal Shoppes on the Las Vegas Strip, designer Angela Rene’ showed at NYFW this season for the first time, sending a sea of beautiful plus size models in gold down the runway, showcasing her gorgeous designs.

Chromat

Chromat is another designer brand that includes a diverse set of models of varying sizes, ethnicities and ages. This season, designer Becca McCharen-Tran brought back curvy regulars Hunter McGrady, Denise Bidot and Emme Aronson. But the big surprise was Tess Holliday walking the runway in McCharen-Tran’s ‘Sample Size’ dress. BEST. MOMENT. EVER.

Tadashi Shoji

Candice Huffine and Marquita Pring simply dazzled the runway for Shoji, wearing his stunning dresses. The designer is also no stranger to using plus size models in his shows.

Rebecca Minkoff

Minkoff partnered with Stitch Fix to create what she called a size inclusive collection (it stops at a 3X so it’s really not) and used plus size models Veronica Pomee and Jazzmine Carthon in the NYFW presentation.

Tommy Hilfiger x Zendaya

The iconic designer partnered with mega star Zendaya for his Fall2019 collection, which included a pregnant Ashley Graham walking the runway in fabulousness.

Tanya Taylor

Taylor, who designs pieces up to a size 22, included a few plus models in her NYFW presentation such as Clementine Desseaux.

We’re loving all the diversity we have seen thus far but we want more. There needs to be more.

As Tess Holliday wrote on Instagram after walking in the Chromat show:

“This is what diversity looks like, this is the future. We have always been here, but no one paid attention or cared because most of us pictured are outside of status quo of what’s considered traditionally ‘beautiful.’ We deserve to take up space, and trust me, we will.”

Yes!

What were your favorite curvy moments from NYFW?

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Make sure to check back on the blog this week for our special features on NYFW, theCURVYcon and more!