lifestyle Fashion week: The fight for diversity

Amy Rushton, News Editor, uncovers the current toxicity of the fashion industry

FASHION weeks around the world have kicked off and the most prominent and exciting brands are showcasing their work. Whilst trends are ever-changing, there seems to be a constant in the season’s shows so far — despite publishing reports, involving itself in international debates and promising to be better — the fashion industry is not practising what it preaches; there is an astonishing lack of diversity on the runway.

Diversity and inclusion in fashion has long been an issue. In fact, the very concept of high fashion in itself is exclusionary: movements like haute couture were founded on the principal of appealing to wealthy white women. However, fashion has since widened its scope. It should, and needs to, adapt to accommodate people of different races, genders, sizes, financial means and physical disabilities.

There has been some headway made in increasing racial diversity in fashion, with an increasing number of models from BAME backgrounds. Many designers too, are incorporating different cultures into their designs, shifting focus from the Eurocentricity that has so far dominated the industry. However, diversity on the surface doesn’t always translate to change behind the scenes. As a 2021 report by the Black in Fashion Council demonstrated, if companies don’t employ non-discrimination policies, and seek to actively recruit people from BAME backgrounds at all levels, the industry as a whole won’t change.

The most worry ing trend in fashion shows this year, has been the lack of size diversity. Despite labels claiming to embrace body positivity, diversity has actually fallen. Last year for instance, New York Fashion Week boasted its highest levels of body diversity yet, with 49 plus-sized models out of around 4000 (still nowhere near representative of the population). This year, the figure stands at just 31. London Fashion Week was even worse — just one per cent of the 327 designers on show offered sizes above 20. Only 27 per cent even reached 14. This kind of representation matters immensely. Fashion carries intense influence, determining what’s ‘trendy’ and desirable. When fashion fails to include an accurate range of diverse bodies, it risks making those bodies themselves trendy. We see the consequences of toxic diet culture and body shaming every day.

Apart from the fact that it's simply not healthy for the models — the industry has been plagued by reports of starvation diets and body image abuse, with one model even fainting backstage at a 2020 show — it translates too into popular fashion, with harmful effects. We’ve seen recently the re-emergence of Y2K aesthetics, a period which placed an emphasis on being thin. Cutting plus-size voices out of that conversation not only fails to celebrate different body types, but risks re-