Ashley Graham Criticizes the Fashion Industry for Their Resistance To Design for All Body Sizes
Ashley Graham has been at the forefront of the body inclusivity movement, but she’s calling out the fashion industry for not doing enough. It’s hard to believe the model with over 21 million Instagram followers gets denied by some designers when she asks them to make an outfit for her — it’s a shocking, but not shocking, revelation.
“There’s still some designers that have said, ‘Sorry, we can’t, we’re just not going to design something for a bigger body,'” she revealed to People. “Things have changed immensely in some ways and just have had a full stop in others.” Those resistant designers better get ready because Graham is putting the fashion industry on notice. “And that is why I’m not going to stop talking about my body and dressing people of larger sizes because it’s not a norm yet,” she added.
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Graham shared that there is often a disconnect with fashion leaders because of the cost of fabric. She will often pay out of pocket for the extra material for up-and-coming designers, so they don’t have to shoulder the cost. They want the opportunity to dress her, but Graham understands that the industry set up a financial roadblock for dressing larger bodies. “That’s not a negative thing by any means, but it still is just where we are in society,” she said.
The 36-year-old activist believes that the changes in fashion are on “this tiny crawl” — most designers are not making size inclusivity a high priority. “If you look at the runways, not much has changed,” she noted. “If you look at designers, some of them are dressing different types of bodies, but it’s not the norm.” Graham first hit the fashion scene in 2016 on cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, but eight years have passed, and she wants designers to step up the pace.
Graham praised Christian Siriano, Prabal Gurung, and Michael Kors in 2017 to Glamour, but she wants to be able to add more people to that list. “I think if designers start thinking that way, then that’s how the change really happens,” Graham pointed out. “And that’s where you see the movement really not being a movement, but being really normal.”
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