'Smaller is better': Why fashion has turned its back on inclusivity

In 2020, Dutch model Jill Kortleve was the talk of couture's biggest designer houses.

"Being the right fit for a brand is not about your size," she told British Vogue, fresh from the runways of Chanel, Valentino, Versace and Fendi.

For the latter two, the "plus-size" model (in reality Kortleve says she's an AU 10-12) became the brands' first foray outside of sample size.

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Kortleve said she was determined to see more inclusive catwalks. The industry seemed to agree with her.

But now, just five years later, less than 1 percent of models during the recent Autumn/Winter 2025 shows were plus-sized.

Some fear it's a worrying trajectory away from inclusivity and back towards an industry only fit for the ultra-thin.

Of the 8703 looks presented across 198 shows and presentations in four different cities, only 0.3 percent were plus-sized, according to the most recent Vogue Business size inclusivity report.

The report defines plus-sized as AU 18+.

Meanwhile, only 2 percent of mid-sized models were represented.

Both represent a drop from last season where plus-sized models were seen 0.8 percent of the time and mid-size looks made up 4.3 percent of runways.

The average Australian woman wears a size 14—16.

A separate analysis from Glamour magazine shows only 26 plus-sized models were seen at London fashion week across the AW25 season.

The British week remains the most inclusive of the big four (London, New York, Paris and Milan).

In contrast, Milan had no plus-size models in any of their AW25 shows, according to Vogue Business.

The Glamour data also highlights how it wasn't always like this.

Just three seasons ago, London was reporting a total of 85 plus-sized models on show.

That same year plus-sized model Paloma Elsesser won the British Fashion Council's model of the year.

Australian model and content creator Shauna Ryan says she remembers the power and possibility of Rihanna's filmed Savage X Fenty runways, which ran from 2019—2022.

The singer and business mogul famously cast diverse models with the goal to be "more inclusive every year".

"I sat there crying with my roommates, seeing people who looked like me, not just wearing a dress that covers them from head to toe, but wearing lingerie," Shauna says.

Since then, she's been exhausted to see "the representation become smaller and smaller".

Ahead of Australian Fashion Week in May, Shauna says she's found only four designers who produce a size 20.

Others only cater up to a size 10 or 12, she adds.

"The trends do tell us that smaller bodies deserve to be celebrated and they deserve to be seen, and they deserve to be decorated in ornate, beautiful pieces that are intentionally made for them," she says.

"It just sends a message, conscious or subconscious, that I have a body that's not desirable. I have a body that's not fashionable.

That runway representation is often in opposition to how brands want to appear on social media, Shauna notes, with many asking her to model — only for them to not stock her size.

"It tells me there's such a disconnect," she says.

"The people who make decisions about marketing know that there has to be diversity but then the people who are creating the designs for these brands don't really make those allowances."

Fellow content creator and curve model Annika Neilsen recalls a similar experience last year when her friend was made the face of a major Australian fashion week but walked on very few physical runways.

It's led her to question where in the creative pipeline these decisions are coming from.

"Who is making that decision to exclude people?" she asks.

Once decided by an exclusive few, trends are now created via GRWMs (Get Ready With Me) and mob wife micro-trends — making fashion's social media influence more pervasive than ever before.

Recently on TikTok, various influencers gravitated to an AI filter which let users see what they would look like if they were fat, often with cruel intent.

Meanwhile, Vogue uploaded a homage to Hairspray on YouTube and socials, starring model Gigi Hadid in the infamous plus-size role.

Sydney-based writer Rebecca Shaw labelled the trend "not just disappointing" but a "really bad sign".

"It seems like any acknowledgement that fat people exist in the world, and that it’s OK for us to exist, is sliding back to nil," she wrote for The Guardian. 

Shauna too was left in disbelief by the shoot: "What do you mean Tracey Turnbland is on Ozempic?"

"How could you produce a whole video about a plus-size icon and not include even a single plus-size person in the cast?"

Both incidents demonstrate couture's demographic shift from the glossy pages to anyone who owns a phone.

"While I understand fashion, for the most part, has been very aspirational historically, we're at the point now in history where it shouldn't be exclusive," Shauna explains.

Clinical psychologist and manager of the Butterfly Foundation's national Helpline Sarah Cox says social media is increasingly a concern for those experiencing body dissatisfaction.

Data released by the foundation in February estimates more than 4.1 million Australians over 15 have been significantly affected by body dissatisfaction over the past 12 months.

Those with an eating disorder are estimated to be more than 1.1 million.

"Social media doesn't lead to eating disorders alone, but there's definitely a lot of quite harmful content that's on it," Cox says.

"It can really push people into comparing themselves to what they're seeing and then feeling inadequate, and feeling pressure to try and change their own body so that they can be perceived as attractive or successful or even worthy."

When identifying what prompted the resurgence of the ultra-thin, many critics point to 2021.

In June of that year, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the Wegovy (semaglutide) injection for use in chronic weight management plans.

Semaglutide might be better known by its other brand name — Ozempic.

Hillary Taymour, founder of designer label Collina Strada, laid blame solely on the drug and its alternatives.

"Everyone's on it. It's a drug that has created a skinnier industry and a new trend that skinnier and skinnier is better," she told the New York Times. 

Ozempic is fuelling a narrative that "small is better, no matter the cost", Shauna believes.

Recounting her own experience of considering the drug, the content creator likened it to a resurrection of the fad diets and weight loss medication of the '90s and '00s.

"If somebody like me who dedicates so much of my life to the idea of worthiness had a moment of 'maybe I should', I can't imagine what people who are disengaged with their worthiness would feel," she says.

She fears the illusion of its accessibility and celebrity use is spurring others to mould their bodies to "whatever is in fashion".

"Fashion is fashion but when people start to internalise it and devalue their own existence based on what they see, it's so harmful," she adds.

"These are really specific decisions that huge corporations are making intentionally, and they profit off it."

Cox says the Butterfly Foundation fields calls from those recovering from eating disorders who feel triggered by Ozempic's depiction in media.

"They're often advertised as a quick, easy fix, which can be obviously very appealing for somebody who might be at risk of an eating disorder or may already have an eating disorder," she says.

She also says there's medical concern over whether assessments for weight loss drugs like Ozempic are thorough enough in screening for eating disorders.

Annika says she understands how plus-sized people, in the face of stigmas, could be pressured view Ozempic as an option.

"There's only so much that you can take, there's only so many pictures you can look at," Annika says.

"There's only so many times that you can be mistreated by people because of your weight that it just makes you fed up."

The Butterfly Foundation estimates in the past 12 months more than 3.1 million Australians have experienced appearance-based discrimination — including weight-based.

For Shauna, it's enough to feel like the "boat is sinking" and there's not enough voices speaking up "before it all just capsizes".

Voices that include people in straight-sized bodies.

"If you have a plus-size friend tap in with them and see what their life experience is. And then engage in the conversation," she says.

"Just because it doesn't include you, it doesn't mean that we don't need you to be part of the conversation."

Annika wants things to change at the top — and she's tired of waiting.

"There's so many brands that just kind of chalk it up to we're working on it and I'm like, well, I DM-ed you five years ago and you're still working on it," she says.

"We push for gender equality in leadership because policies for women shouldn't be made without women and the same thing I believe applies to fashion.