If you think that fashion models are getting skinnier, you are not misguided.
Sitting at the recent couture shows, and then sifting through photos looking for runway images to go with show reviews, I had the same thought.
The numbers bear this out – during the last ready-to-wear season, according to the Vogue Business size inclusivity report, out of 9,038 looks in 198 womenswear shows, 97.1% were shown on models who were US sizes 0 to 4. Less than 1% of models qualified as plus size, or curve.
There was a moment when fashion seemed to be inching toward body positivity, in part because of public opinion.
In 2020, Paloma Elsesser, an outspoken plus-size model, was on the cover of Vogue, and the next year she became a member of the VS Collective specifically to help Victoria’s Secret rethink its sizing and image.
The concept of midsize models took off, and there was less tokenism of plus-size girls. But clearly that moment is over, for a variety of reasons.
The backlash to “wokeness” has swept up size inclusivity in its wake.
Fashion, which is going backward in all sort of ways, including sustainability and gender equality, is likewise reverting to form on the runway. It is, after all, easier to default to the status quo than to pioneer change.
This is especially true for runway collections, since they are generally made up of sample garments, designed in a standard size. (It’s more efficient and cost-effective.) Varying the sizes on the runway requires changing the patterns, and that requires rethinking the system, which is complicated.
Read more: Remaking the body: How fashion is embracing extreme new silhouettes
Besides, conventional industry wisdom holds that clothes look better on women shaped like hangers. Not the padded silk kind; the narrow wire kind.
Then there’s the fact that the GLP-1 revolution has altered the visual landscape. As formerly larger size people in the public eye shrink, so, too, do our perceptions. What qualifies as “skinny” becomes even skinnier – and more seemingly desirable.
Add all of that together, and the gravitational pull is toward an ever-shrinking human form, especially on the runway.
It’s too bad. Not because skinniness is bad, but because it should not be the only option.
People still come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Seeing the reality of life reflected on the runways, which have become a form of entertainment for everyone, is actually more appealing than seeing life reduced to one size that cannot fit all.
The reality of this hit home when, after decades of racism, fashion finally stopped tokenising Black models and embraced a multitude of skin colours in runway collections rather than opting for a model cast that was 90% white (well, except for Dolce & Gabbana, which inexplicably used an all-white cast in its last men’s show).
The result was shows that look exponentially richer and more relevant than they once did because they are connected more clearly to the world in which the clothes they show are worn.
Read more: How fashion breaks the rules by embracing authenticity over standard practice
The takeaway should be the more diversity, the better. Not just in race but also in size and age and physical ability.
It’s in everyone’s interests. Imagine seeing a runway that included not just sizes 0 and 16, but all those in between, including 6, 8 and 10.
And not just for women and womenswear.
During the recent men’s shows, the guys on the Prada runway were so slim-line that Hanan Besovic, a fashion commentator, announced on his Instagram reel: “I love Prada. But my only thought during this whole collection is how skinny these models are.”
“It was so difficult focusing on the clothes,” he went on.
There’s a lesson in there if fashion would care to learn it. – ©2026 The New York Times Company/Vanessa Friedman
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
