The Great Contradiction on the Runway
Fashion’s most uncomfortable truth sits right in plain sight. Of 9,137 looks across 219 shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris, just 0.6 per cent were plus-size (US 14+) and 3.8 per cent were mid-size (US 6-12). This means 95.6 per cent of looks presented for AW23 were in a size US 0-4. Meanwhile, the real world looks entirely different. The average American woman wears sizes 16 and 18, according to industry research.
It’s a staggering disconnect that reveals how out of touch fashion remains with actual human bodies. While designers claim to celebrate beauty and artistry, they systematically exclude the vast majority of women from their vision. This isn’t just an oversight – it’s a deliberate choice that shapes how we see ourselves.
Money Talks Louder Than Manifestos
The global plus size clothing market was estimated at USD 119.4 billion in 2024. The market is expected to grow from USD 125 billion in 2025 to USD 202.4 billion in 2034, at a CAGR of 5.5%. These aren’t niche numbers – this is a massive economic force. The women segment accounted for 48.4% market share in 2024 and is anticipated to grow with a CAGR of 6% during the forecast period.
Yet fashion’s power brokers continue to ignore this goldmine. According to fashion industry analysis, just 15 showed mid or plus-size models on their runway with a staggering 70 percent of brands not featuring any mid or plus-size looks at all. It’s like opening a restaurant that refuses to serve most of its potential customers. The math doesn’t add up, but the prejudice does.
The Rise and Fall of Hope
Over the last decade, the body positivity movement has grown online, with curve models such as Ashley Graham, Paloma Elsesser, Jill Kortleve and Alva Claire becoming household names. Brands like Versace began featuring more plus-size models on the runway around 2021; Dolce & Gabbana and Erdem extended their sizing ranges; and the press heralded a new era for size inclusivity in fashion.
For a moment, it seemed like real change was happening. Social media amplified voices that had been silenced, and major brands scrambled to catch up with shifting cultural attitudes. But many body positivity advocates worry 2024 marked a return to “thinness” as the norm. The progress that felt so promising has stalled, revealing just how fragile these victories really were.
The Ozempic Effect and Cultural Backsliding
Now, injectable diabetes drug Ozempic, an appetite suppressant, is trending and the media is declaring that “heroin chic is back”. There were signs: The Miu Miu Spring 2022 collection, which largely featured very thin models to show off the Abercrombie-core ultra-mini skirts; the quiet retreat of high fashion and mall brands alike from offering size extensions in their clothes, citing financial concerns in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic; and, of course, the rise and rise and rise of GLP-1s like Ozempic. It’s that latter piece of the puzzle which has particularly seemed to bring pop culture as a whole screeching back to the standards of thinness which dominated the early aughts.
The cultural shift has been swift and brutal. Suddenly, conversations about health and wellness have become code for returning to old ideals of thinness. The brief moment where diverse bodies felt celebrated has given way to familiar patterns of exclusion, wrapped in new packaging but driven by the same old biases.
Beyond the Numbers: What Really Matters
Body positivity encompasses any individual or collective action that aims to reject the influence of beauty standards on society and instead strives for self-love and acceptance of bodies, regardless of their size or appearance. As a movement that promotes the acceptance of all bodies regardless of size, shape, skin tone, gender, and physical abilities, adherents of body positivity focus less on physical appearance and more on the overall health of the human body.
This isn’t about promoting any particular size – it’s about recognizing that elegance, beauty, and worth exist across the entire spectrum of human bodies. “Bodies should never be a trend. We need inclusive bodies on the runway so that bodies don’t become trends,” says Hayward. When we treat body types like fashion trends that come and go, we reduce human beings to objects that are either in or out of style.
The real revolution isn’t happening on runways dominated by sample sizes. It’s happening in boardrooms where executives realize that excluding the majority of their customers makes no business sense. It’s happening in design studios where creators are expanding their vision beyond traditional beauty standards. And it’s happening in millions of individual moments where people choose to see elegance in themselves and others, regardless of size.
