Figure Studies

The world of high fashion has historically been less than accessible to those over a size 12. With the help of boundary pushing designers and models, is that finally starting to change

- Veronique Hyland

Prabal Gurung recalls being on a recent panel about diversity in the fashion industry when a woman piped up from the audience. “She asked, ‘You talked about diversity on the runway—what about plus-size?’ ” Gurung says. “One of the panelists turned to her and said, ‘Oh, we’ll get to you.’

” This past February, there was reason to hope that long-overdue recognition had come, as even jaded Fashion Week regulars took notice of Ashley Graham—widely lauded as the first plus-size supermodel—striding Michael Kors’s runway in a fitted black dress and a silvery fur and, at Gurung’s own show, the surprise appearance of curvy models Candice Huffine and Marquita Pring. (The emotional show, which included T-shirts promoting both immigrants’ rights and feminism, brought tears to the eyes of some attendees.) “The difference that I see now in the industry, even from a couple of years ago, is monumental, amazing,” Huffine says. “Everything is moving forward, the way I’ve always envisioned it to be.”

Yet, given that the average American woman is a size 16 to 18, the fact that such models continue to be outliers is ironic— they represent the majority, not to mention a growing clothing market valued at $20.4 billion. Innovative midprice brands such as Eloquii and Universal Standard have recently stepped in to the fill the fashionable yet-reasonably-priced void, but when it comes to capital-H high fashion, the roadblock is still very real: Inspiring as it is to see Huffine on fashion’s main stage, imagine, for a moment, if only two or three shows in an entire fashion season included women of color. The outcry would be swift—and right.