The fashion industry likes its models thin. Very, very thin. This problem is widely known and well-documented. There have been books about it, films and documentaries. There have been protests, petitions and campaigns calling attention to it. And yet, here I am in 2023, watching my sixth show at London Fashion Week, wondering when the model in front of me has last eaten.
A woman’s body is a difficult subject to comment on, regardless of her size. Frankly, it shouldn’t be something anyone comments on at all. But having been to LFW for the past eight years, and heard endless stories of models starving themselves before shows, or being told to drop a dress size in two days in order to get cast in a show, I’ve become increasingly concerned by the health and wellbeing of models on the runway and the lack of representation in terms of body shape. What’s even more concerning, though, is that no one seems to care. At least not enough to do anything about it.
