Over the weekend in New York the firing gun was sounded on the bi-annual circus that is fashion month, and with it the question that no one is really asking. What happened to body diversity on the catwalk?
In the January round of menswear and women’s haute couture shows the awkward truth revealed itself: no one cares about it any more. Model casting has reverted back to type, the lithe of flesh need only apply. In Paris there was scant reminder of the small steps that have been made in previous seasons in terms of casting models beyond the titular sample size; the closer to a pre-pubescent figure the better. Only at John Galliano’s Maison Margiela, where bottoms were rounded and bosoms cosseted in corsetry completed with the finale performance of the Amazonian Gwendoline Christie was there a reminder of the wonder of different shaped bodies.
