DIVERSITY IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY: THERE IS NOT ENOUGH OF IT

By: Margarette Machacon

Fashion is a vibrant, exciting industry that employs millions of people across the world. It allows people to express individuality but also has the ability to unite people. The conversation around diversity in fashion has been a big topic and continues to evolve, raise awareness, raise questions and create opportunities for change.

Diversity in the fashion industry has many distinctions. It reflects designer labels of various cultures and values. It includes models of all sizes and backgrounds. It also presents clothing that is made to fit real bodies. However, there still seems to be a prevailing theme of inconsistency representing people of colour and inclusive sizing. 

After the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and the George Floyd incident, there was a high demand for more inclusive practices from businesses and organizations within the fashion industry. There was a rise in black visibility, awareness for black-owned businesses and more diverse representation overall. Despite this rise however, brands are still trying to identify ways to be more authentically inclusive.

Microaggressive acts of racism within the industry still exist and trigger conversations demanding change. Non-white people are still being denied opportunities because of their skin colour. Black designers are still not receiving the credit they deserve for their designs. Big brand companies are still getting away with stealing black designer’s ideas and profiting from them. 

In regards to size inclusivity, there also has yet to be an evident change in representation. To this day, there is still an overwhelming number of brands who cater to smaller sizes or the standard size range of XS to XL. According to Vogue Business, the statistics of the AW23 show has “failed to make progress in terms of size representation on the runway.” Of all the shows during this autumn and winter season, it was said that only 0.6 percent of models were plus size (L or 14+), 3.8 percent were mid-size (S-M or 6-12), meaning 95.6 percent of the looks were size 0-4. 

Across social media, there are all kinds of opinions and ideas being spread of what someone’s body should look like. People of all ages are exposed to this media where bodies are looked at as trends and people of all ages are manipulated to think a certain body type is the “perfect body.” We as a society need to change these harsh beauty standards that affect not only our view of ourselves but of others as well. This change can start in the fashion industry with brands promoting inclusive sizing and increasing visibility of people of colour. 

Fashion companies need to do more by putting people of colour in their main campaigns, designers need to expand their collections to include a variety of sizes and representation should be celebrating diversity.

There is not enough being done to promote and incorporate inclusivity. Fashion media continues to push the ideals of certain body types, which adds to the increase of insecurities and self-doubt in young children and teenagers. It has reached a sad point where people of colour may avoid an attempt at success in the industry because of how hard it can be to even get in, let alone have their name be known. No aspiring model, designer, or any other fashion worker should fear going into fashion due to the colour of someone’s skin getting in their way. Change has been happening as we work towards genuine inclusivity and diversity.