There Was Only One Plus Size Model During Men's Fashion Week
Men's Fashion Week took over London, Paris, Milan and New York this summer with buzzed-about shows like Virgil Abloh's first Louis Vuitton show or Maxine Waters merch at Willy Chavarria. One thing, however, that wasn't talked about was the inclusion of plus size models in the shows.
In the last three years, the movement toward inclusivity in the industry has made strides to include curve models like Ashley Graham, Paloma Elsesser, and Barbie Ferreira. While there is, no doubt, so much further we need to go to make the industry size-inclusive, at least we're having the conversation in regard to Women's fashion. Men's fashion is left out of the discussion every time, as evidenced the lack of visibility on the runways this month.
The only major show during Men's Fashion Month that featured a plus model was ASOS. The brand included Trey Campbell, a singer and model who works with the brand as an ASOS Insider. Trey told Teen Vogue, "Being able to represent the plus community in ASOS’ most recent presentation was an honor. ASOS has always been a trailblazer when it comes to fashion and now they are making inclusivity a standard in the industry. I was so incredibly proud to stand on stage with so many established creatives and tastemakers. I can’t thank ASOS enough for highlighting not only me, but the plus community.”
Last season, Mic reported that Trey was the only plus model featured during the February shows. Brands had an opportunity to rectify that by hiring a size-inclusive cast for the current season. Instead, they fell woefully short.
There is a burgeoning movement around plus size Men's fashion that brands would be smart to pay attention to. In 2016, IMG launched a Brawny division for big and tall men, signing their first-ever plus-size male model, Zach Miko. Just this March, blogger Darnel Ghramm recreated Calvin Klein ads with plus size male models as a part of his #WeAreBigAndTall project, and the feature went viral. Body positivity is not a gendered concept. All bodies need to be included in the movement toward inclusivity in fashion, and that extends to menswear, too.
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