The past couple of years have seen the body positivity movement take a major hit. Despite originally being used as a treatment for diabetes, Semaglutide (also known as Ozempic and Wegovy) was approved by the NHS for weight loss use in 2023. Users inject themselves once a week to suppress their appetite, and celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Amy Schumer and Elon Musk have spoken about using it — but given the drastic change in appearance of many other famous figures, it’s clearly much more popular.
Fashion does not exist in a bubble — it reflects the wider culture (for better or worse) and this was clearly evident on the Autumn/Winter 2025 runways. Ultra-skinny is once again being pushed as the body type du jour by designers across the globe. Influencer and model Felicity Hayward started tracking exactly how many plus-size models are cast per season back in 2019, through her diversity report called Including The Curve. For Autumn/Winter 2025 she calculated that in New York, 23 out of 3640 models were considered curve or plus size (50% less than last season) and in London there were 26 out of 1600 (68% less than last season). Milan and Paris, who tend to fall short on inclusivity at the best of times, had 10 and 22 plus-size models this season respectively.
