This season, a couple of major labels featured mid and plus-size models in their shows — including Balenciaga and Givenchy. It wasn’t the first time: in previous seasons, those moments of visibility hinted that luxury houses might be starting to consider bigger bodies, and harness the major missed opportunity in mid and plus-size consumers. But the lack of consistency — and the overall decline in representation across the wider schedule — suggests those efforts remain isolated.
Against a backdrop of rising conservatism, obsessive self-optimization, and growing use of GLP-1s, these moments of inclusivity, while positive, don’t offer the same level of hope they once did. In fact, they are stark reminders that curve models on the runway are increasingly rare, and increasingly obvious, as the rest of the models continue to shrink.
Of the 7,817 looks presented across 182 shows and presentations for Fall/Winter 2026, 97.6% were straight-size (US 0-4), 2.1% were mid-size (US 6-12), and 0.3% were plus-size (US 14+). The results were slightly down on last season, when straight-size looks represented 97.1% of the total, mid-size looks made up 2% (this figure has now been roughly flat for the past three seasons), and plus-size looks made up 0.9%. This means plus-size representation has dipped to the same level as we saw in FW25, the lowest level since Vogue Business began trackings size inclusivity three years ago.
As with previous seasons, Vogue Business has analyzed every runway show and presentation featured on Vogue Runway from the official New York, London, Milan, and Paris schedules, to calculate the proportion of total looks that are straight, mid and plus-size. Brands were contacted to allow them to verify the data and informed that if they did not respond, the initial figures collectsed by Vogue Business would be used. Sizing ranges were determined based on typical sample sizes for straight sizing and established definitions of mid and plus-size.
Buyers and casting directors believe that the decision-making power lies with brands. “[The lack of size inclusivity] is from the brand side — there are ample curve women who are ready to walk,” says casting director Chloe Rosolek, who cast London-based size inclusive designer Karoline Vitto’s show this season. “The primary limitation remains the size ranges that brands make available to wholesale partners,” adds Tiffany Hsu, chief buying officer at Mytheresa and group fashion venture officer at parent company LuxExperience.
In New York, 97.7% of looks were straight-size. Mid-size looks made up 1.9% of total looks (down from 1.5% last season), and plus-size looks made up 0.4% (compared to 1% last season). Only two of the brands in our top 10 included any plus-size representation — Christian Siriano and Kim Shui — while the rest reached the rankings by casting mid-size models.
In Milan, straight-size looks made up 97.3%, while mid-size looks made up 2.6% and plus-size looks comprised 0.1%. In comparison, 0.7% of last season’s looks were mid-size, while 0.2% were plus-size. Part of the uptick can be attributed to Brunello Cucinelli, which claimed all of its models were mid-size.
Inclusivity in Paris was the lowest of all the cities, with only nine brands out of 65 including any plus or mid-size representation. Straight-size looks accounted for 99.5%, while 0.4% were mid-size and 0.1% were plus-size. This is a significant decline compared to last season, where 1.5% were mid-size and 0.6% were plus-size.
London remained the most size inclusive fashion week this season, helped by Karoline Vitto’s return to the runway (who ranked top in London and overall for the season). At London Fashion Week, 92.7% of looks were straight-size, 6.5% were mid-size, and 0.8% were plus-size. However, the data still shows a decline on last season, when 6.5% of looks were mid-size and 2.8% were plus-size.
Influencer Remi Bader — who grew her platform by posting “realistic” clothing hauls and talking openly about body image — flew from New York to London this season to attend Karoline Vitto and Di Petsa’s shows. She has developed strong relationships with the designers; they were among the few willing — and able — to dress Bader at her biggest size. “There’s such a strong sense of loyalty there — whether it’s my scenario because they’re dressing me personally for red carpets and events, or because plus-size people know that this group of brands have always been loyal to them in return,” she says, adding that it’s been a “let down” to see other brands drop size inclusivity.
Plus-size representation: The runway vs in-store
Representation matters. In an exclusive Vogue Business survey of almost 700 consumers last summer, around half (48%) said they “feel pressure to lose weight in order to feel fashionable”. Of those, more cited challenges with sizing when shopping (63%) as the source of this pressure, compared to runway shows (36%) or brand campaigns (35%). The challenges are more pronounced in higher-end labels: 27% of plus-size respondents said they “can never” or “usually can’t” find their size among luxury brands, compared to 16% of mid-size and 12% of straight-size respondents.
To understand the gap between runway representation and the sizing available for consumers to purchase, Vogue Business gathered data on the largest size each brand sells on its e-commerce site. For runway analysis, Vogue Business defines plus-size as US 14 and above, but in retail, this bracket often represents the upper end of standard sizing rather than true extended ranges. The results show that while some brands technically extend into plus-size territory, most stop at US 14 or 16 — effectively the entry point to plus-size. These sizes were also the most likely to be out of stock.
“For me, it’s about authenticity. You can’t celebrate diverse bodies on the runway and then not make the clothes for them. That doesn’t make sense to me,” says Christian Siriano, who ranked third in New York this season. “The runway is about visibility and it shows people that they belong in fashion. But production is the real commitment. If you’re going to say you believe in inclusivity, it has to exist in both places.”
That disconnect is increasingly visible to consumers. “I didn’t realize that a brand might throw in a mid-size or plus-size model, but you can’t actually buy those pieces in those sizes. It’s confusing,” says Bader. “I would go to shows and it was so exciting to me that there would be plus-size models on the runway, and then people would be commenting on my TikToks saying, ‘Remi, I can’t even buy this stuff.’”
Hsu agrees that diversity on the runway doesn’t always translate into commercial collectsions. “Customer demand tends to be broader and more nuanced than what is presented during fashion week,” she says. “Ultimately, runway representation is directionally improving, but it still does not fully mirror the reality of purchasing behavior.”
Reaching the plus-size consumer
The question of demand for larger sizes is one of the most-contested aspects of size inclusivity in luxury fashion. Mytheresa’s Hsu says that while core sizes tend to drive the majority of sales due to availability and shopping habits, there’s a “meaningful opportunity” for brands to expand their size ranges. “Extended sizes often sell through quickly, largely due to limited supply rather than lack of demand,” she says. “When given adequate depth and visibility, we see strong engagement across a wider size spectrum.”
The plus-size consumer’s historical exclusion from the luxury market can make this harder to prove for brands on the fence. “You have to market to plus-size consumers if, for all these years, you never had a plus-size customer and those customers are used to shopping at plus-size-specific stores,” says Bader. “You’re literally getting a whole new customer who has never shopped there before, so it’s going to take time.”
Changing habits requires sustained investment in marketing, fit, and product development over multiple seasons. For brands that commit, the results can be significant. At Paris-based inclusive label Ester Manas (which did not show this season), around 60% to 70% of e-commerce customers are plus-size, which reflects both the product availability and targeted communications. “The challenge is being able to produce great imagery and storytelling about why we cover so many sizes and why we want to be welcoming and inclusive,” says co-founder Balthazar Delepierre. “When you create a universe around being transparent about the sizing, it makes more sense.”
Working with creators who share that body type can be particularly effective, says Bader, especially for a consumer group that is often skeptical of brand messaging after years of exclusion. She also highlights the importance of showing the clothes on models of various sizes on e-commerce pages. Meanwhile, Ester Manas’s co-founders highlight that legacy media has helped add credibility, on top of the authenticity that influencer marketing can help convey.
Marketing alone isn’t enough, however. “If you have a message of inclusivity and a community that supports you but you don’t get the sizing right, the customer will feel especially disappointed because they’ve been supporting you for a long time and they’ve maybe saved up to buy something that doesn’t fit,” says Vitto. The designer has also been ramping up studio sales to encourage real-life try-ons and relationship-building.
Some suggest a measured approach may be most effective — testing a smaller number of SKUs while investing heavily in marketing and fit, for example. “You’ve got to test it out — baby steps are sometimes more sustainable,” says Bader, who has co-developed plus-size lines for Victoria’s Secret and Revolve. Pulling a plus-size line after such a short time indicates poor strategy at best, or a lack of genuine care at worst, she suggests.
The realities of commercializing size inclusivity
Expanding size ranges requires investment from pattern-making and grading, to sampling and production, to inventory planning and marketing. “It’s not as simple as just scaling something. But to me, that’s part of the responsibility,” says Siriano. “If you’re going to design for more women, you have to put in the work to make sure the clothes actually fit and feel great. When you approach it with the same level of design and care, it absolutely works commercially.”
Design strategies can help mitigate some of these challenges. “You have to design the clothes to be a bit flexible, so that when you do the casting [for the show] it’s not a constraint. [That way] you can choose the girl you prefer, rather than the girl whose body just fits the clothes,” says co-founder and designer Ester Manas.
Vitto has been incorporating adjustable elements and modular garments to reduce complexity while increasing versatility. This season, she designed two tops that can be worn in multiple ways. “It was more about the cost of developing and grading everything. We’re making fewer styles so there’s less to grade and it reduces costs for us, but for the customer it’s like having 15 tops” says Vitto, noting that high-quality grading services can be very expensive for a small brand because of the sampling and refitting requirements.
Collaborations can also offer a route to scale. Vitto partnered with high street retailer Pull&Bear on a capsule collectsion this season, working closely on grading and fit to extend sizing up to 2XL. The process required months of development — from reconciling different sizing charts to refitting garments across different fit models — highlighting the level of commitment required.
With the industry’s approach uneven, brands will need to move beyond visibility and confront the operational and creative shifts required to make extended sizing a consistent part of the business. “The industry has operated around a very narrow idea of beauty for a long time, and systems don’t change overnight,” says Siriano. “But the reality is that the customer hasn’t changed. Women of all sizes have always been part of the audience. When brands choose to serve them consistently, and not just when it’s trending, that’s when real progress happens.”
Madeleine Schulz, Ella Graveney, Emily Forkan and Alyshea Wharton contributed to this story.
