Since centuries, the fashion industry has been ostensibly characterized by zero-sized models flaunting tightly-fitted clothes that accentuate their beauty. Although this conventional trend of beauty and fashion is still prevalent, the dawn of body positivity has opened closed doors for plus-sized models. The beauty standards have undergone numerous changes over the passing time and the designers, models, consumers and brands alike are advocating for a wider, inclusive representation of fashion.
Let’s take a dive into the emergence of plus size fashion to redefine beauty standards.
Challenging the Conventional Beauty Norms – The traditional beauty norms are giving way to include plus sizes and designers such as Prabal Gurung, Christian Siriano and Chromate are now bringing plus-size models to the forefront in their shows. More and more plus-size representation is now visible on magazine covers, social media and catwalks.
Looking Beyond the Ideal Body Type – Although slim and tall figures have dominated the fashion industry over the generations, it does not represent the vast majority of women in the society. Even the young upcoming designers were trained to design clothes in extra small sizes, with little exposure to the curvier sizes and thus the majority of women felt excluded from the high-fashion narrative. But this mindset is now fast changing with more and more designers incorporating plus sizes in their line of fashion. This may either be due to a progressive mindset or as a means of driving profits.
Impact of social media – Although the body positivity movement started in the mid 1990s, it soon died down due to several reasons and the people reverted back to the old fashion standards. However, with the rise in social media, plus-size fashion came back with a bang with multiple brands offering comfy plus-size clothes and showcasing plus-size celebrities and models on social media platforms to enhance visibility of such products. Greater online visibility quickly led to a greater demand and popularity.
Conclusion
Plus-size fashion trend is driven by the thought that everyone deserves to look good and feel confident, Plus-size fashion has become easily accessible, resulting in a huge rise in demand.
