ARTICLE
MENSWEAR & INCLUSIVITY: A Long Way to Go BY ROSA TORIELLO
26th January 2022. Pierpaolo Piccioli, Creative Director of Valentino, presents his Haute Couture collection “Anatomy of Couture” in Paris. Piccioli challenges beauty stereotypes and places value on the uniqueness of identity, diverse perspectives and imperfections through the collection’s name as well as the choice of models with various body types. However, while the female models represented this message, the male models were not as diverse or inclusive. A few days after the show, Piccioli responded to this criticism by posting a slideshow on Instagram detailing the reasons why male model presence is not as diverse and inclusive as female presence. He declared that “men never had to accept any specific body stereotype, the only fashion obsession reserved to men was around youth and ageing”. This statement did nothing but exacerbate the criticism, and in fact, brought up a whole new debate about older fashion models including Jeff Goldblum and Kyle MacLachlan who modelled for Prada during the Milan Fashion Week and Ivo Raspudic who modelled for Balenciaga. These men shattered fashion norms with their age, but age is not the only issue male models are battling in the fashion industry.
wear, menswear has lagged behind especially when it comes to shapes and sizes. The little progress which has been made for men includes the case of Steven Green, a fashion photographer-turned-model who posed for Savage X Fenty Vol. II by Rihanna in a US size 2XL. He agreed to pose wearing only a pair of boxers with the aim of promoting body positivity and racial diversity, immediatly rising to fame. In various interviews, he declared how honoured he felt for having been offered the possibility of representing a broad group of people still neglected by the fashion industry. He has condemned those who refuse to accept larger body types often appealing to health-related discourses as an excuse. Many people thanked Green for his confidence and bravery clearly signifying that something in the fashion industry and in society as a whole has to change.
Plus-size males continue to have limited access to fashion garments, and while they are not as basic (eg. t-shirts, shorts) as they used to be, they are still unavailable compared to what brands offer in smaller sizes. As a consequence, shopping experiences are much more difficult and less satisfying when compared to their female counterparts and While in recent years the fashion indus- smaller-sized males. Not only are XL mannetry has made progress in terms of body quins non-existent in stores, but it’s also rare diversity and inclusivity for womens- to find XL and XXL items on display, forcing 50
