‘She was sitting on the kitchen desk, consuming uncooked cauliflower. For dinner.” It’s September 2024 in London and my pal is reflecting on her time sharing an house with fellow fashions in Paris the earlier yr. I’m grimly amused, however unsurprised. That is the kind of story fashions are at all times telling.
I might know, as a result of I turned a mannequin at 21 – fairly late, by {industry} requirements – and have walked in a number of London exhibits, in addition to fittings, showrooms, campaigns, editorials, lookbooks and e-commerce for manufacturers akin to Moncler, Lacoste and Toni & Man. Since I began, I’ve tried to construct a thick pores and skin to guard myself towards rejections from castings and call-backs, in addition to the ever-present skinny physique customary. However once I get chosen for a present, there may be at all times the underlying concern that maybe I took it too far – that I misplaced an excessive amount of weight once more. As a result of an amazing proportion of fashions are, as they’ve at all times been, very skinny.
I used to be scouted on a stroll by way of Covent Backyard in 2021, simply after I had graduated from the College of Warwick. I made my debut on the subsequent London vogue week, on the Victoria Beckham present.
The expression “baptism of fireside” doesn’t start to cowl it. I had completed solely a fast strolling observe at my company beforehand, not anticipating something to return from my first casting. Inside a few hours, I used to be booked on the spot for 3 days of fittings in a room full of stylists, artistic administrators, sewers and photographers, all working on the frenetic vitality of vogue week. Within the run-up to the present, I used to be working 13-hour days.
My company steered me in the direction of a high-fashion market, so I moved to Milan for a month, after which again to my house city of Paris, to pursue my profession extra severely.
Over the previous couple of years within the vogue {industry}, my weight has fluctuated so much, however I’ve at all times remained, by non-fashion requirements, slim. Even at my greatest, I used to be smaller than a UK dimension 8. Excessive vogue cherished me probably the most at my skinniest, once I was visibly very bony (it was apparent that I had a problematic BMI). Throughout my debut season, I overheard a well-known stylist speaking about me (it’s regular to be spoken about when you are within the room). “She’s too skinny for use within the present, however she’s good for the fittings,” she mentioned, voicing what I got here to know was the underlying mantra of the {industry}: the extraordinarily skinny look continues to be valued – you simply can’t make it apparent.
After I reached what was deemed a wholesome dimension, it was my hips that turned my achilles heel – and I’m removed from curvy. Throughout a couture week becoming, I wasn’t capable of match the marriage robe – the distinguished spotlight of the gathering – over my hips. The robe was shortly taken away and handed to a 17-year-old mannequin, whose slim construct didn’t battle the material. The irony? Couture is designed – and destined – for ladies with very massive financial institution balances, not ladies.
For fashions, dialog about weight and weight-reduction plan is frequent. It’s a nonchalant, informal, day-to-day subject that comes up as simply because the climate. It’s not about sharing weight-reduction plan ideas, however relatively anecdotes a few nasty casting, or a remark about skipping dessert as a result of vogue week isn’t far off. One mannequin recounted that she had lower out all sugar, carbs and junk meals and had been intensively exercising for 3 months main as much as the exhibits. Different fashions requested me what my measurements have been, adopted by an encouraging: “That must be superb, don’t fear.” After I began modelling, I used to be struck by the candour of it, the shared actuality of residing with the strain to be a sure dimension. I knew I had shared the identical ideas and considerations – and hadn’t missed a day on the health club all week.
I feel it’s honest to say that fashions don’t deliberately promote or perpetuate the will for a sure physique; as a substitute, they adjust to the “{industry} customary”, understanding that it’s a part of success, or at the very least of securing work. That {industry} customary varies, however tends to be round 34-24-34in (bust-waist-hips), or equal to a gown dimension 6. The should be a sure dimension to guide jobs can tip fashions’ behaviour into the unhealthy.
In 2023, I used to be in Madrid working a job. After lunch – a 4pm matcha – a mannequin pal mentioned she was not hungry for dinner. In every other circumstances, her behaviour would have been trigger for concern. However right here, there was no sense that she may be judged for skipping a meal, actually not by me – I too have a sophisticated relationship with meals.
Measurements stay a really actual part of vogue week; up-to-date bikini footage are nonetheless required by potential purchasers. It does differ just a little by location. London shows extra of quite a lot of fashions in casting queues – from dimension 2 to dimension 18. However the identical can’t be mentioned of Paris, and even much less so Milan, the place I used to be measured each time I went to my company. I’ve spent hours in queues made up solely of ultra-thin fashions, to be measured on the door and requested to placed on an unforgiving skintight bodysuit to make sure that nothing is hid behind cloth. Each curve and dip of your physique is uncovered for analysis.
There’s a new narrative, nonetheless, which has its roots within the late 2010s, when Ashley Graham was on the quilt of Vogue and catwalks showcased plus-sized our bodies for the primary time. In 2023, Paloma Elsesser gained mannequin of the yr, highlighting the obvious acceptance and rise of plus-size fashions. The brand new narrative advised us that strict ultra-skinny measurements, adverse physique picture discourse and an absence of inclusivity have been not an issue in vogue. It feels like progress, however it’s merely not true. It says all of it that Elsesser, who was the one curvier mannequin within the lineup of nominees, confronted an instantaneous backlash about her weight on social media.
From my expertise, the general public celebration of physique inclusivity feels performative. Regardless of what number of exhibits use plus-size fashions, or how usually magazines use bigger fashions, the thin physique ideally suited stays ever-present. The wording may be extra delicate – it’s not about “dimension 0” – and some token moments have made it look like issues are shifting, however the skinny orthodoxy continues to be dominant, maybe more and more so.
The style-industry media noticed a tangible lower in physique range at current exhibits. Vogue Enterprise famous that plus-size illustration made up simply 0.3% of the appears to be like in autumn/winter 2025 exhibits, with 97.7% of the fashions being “straight-size”, the {industry} time period for the thin norm – equal to a gown dimension 4 or XS within the UK. This matches what I noticed in casting queues final season.
The shift in the direction of smaller silhouettes prolonged past catwalk fashions to the entrance row, coinciding with the rise of weight-loss medicine and signalling a broader cultural shift to thinness.
Remark sections on TikTok movies now border on obsessive relating to celebrities’ weight reduction; the Depraved press tour was overshadowed by remarks concerning the solid’s noticeably slim silhouettes. Such widespread outrage at what’s clearly a deeply private topic reveals the hypocrisy surrounding ladies’s our bodies. Which ladies are required to embody “healthiness” and which are supposed to have the high-fashion physique that society glamorises? Each of the primary stars of Depraved, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, look the identical dimension as many fashions I’ve labored with. There’s a high-fashion blind spot that permits excessive thinness to go unchallenged, whereas the remainder of society – even throughout the confines of Hollywood – is held to completely different requirements.
A scroll by way of TikTok reveals an array of adverse experiences from fashions that do conform to this sort, with Bentley Mescall, for instance, exposing the panorama in New York. She posts screenshots of messages from her agent: “Bread has to go, rice has to go, pasta has to go – this needs to be a selection that you just make.” Her expertise isn’t an exception. It’s nonetheless the deeply entrenched actuality of the modelling world, regardless of the so-called plus-size revolution has advised us.
On a month-long working journey to Greece final summer season, my flatmate and fellow mannequin was advised by our agent that she would get extra bookings if she misplaced a few centimetres off her hips. In Milan final yr, a pal was shamed in a room stuffed with brokers for having gained barely in dimension over the summer season holidays. One other was despatched house after a go to to her Milan-based company throughout which she had her stomach grabbed and shaken. An identical expertise occurred in Japan, the place the mannequin was booked a ticket house on the spot. Every incident occurred throughout the final two years and, for what it’s price, all of those ladies are round a dimension 6.
To reiterate, the issue lies with the {industry}, not the fashions. Most fashions are skilled, sort and compassionate people. Most of us are naturally slim and don’t comply with a uncooked cauliflower weight-reduction plan.
“Companies have an obligation of care,” says Tom Quinn, the director of exterior affairs on the consuming dysfunction charity Beat, who urges them “to cease encouraging fashions to undertake dangerous behaviours and pressuring them to suit a sure physique ideally suited”. An individual’s look ought to by no means be prioritised over their psychological and bodily wellbeing, he says.
Fortunately for me, the London-based company that I’ve been with since I began out has proven concern for my welfare, even encouraging me to realize weight once I was excessively skinny. However they’re in a tough place: they’ve to make sure fashions’ well being isn’t compromised, however they have to additionally please purchasers and guide their expertise. The truth is that vogue manufacturers, significantly high-fashion ones, demand this physique kind.
Someplace, amid the intense calls for and performative inclinations of the {industry}, there could also be a center floor the place companies do not need to guard fashions from poisonous necessities, or coerce them into complying. Some manufacturers have proven a real need to rent healthy-looking fashions. The Vogue Enterprise report pointed to Ester Manas, Rick Owens, Sunnei, Boss and Bach Mai as a number of the vogue homes selling a extra complete lineup this previous season.
I additionally bear in mind how delighted the editor of a French journal was when she noticed me with a “fuller form” (dimension 8) after I had labored with them beforehand. She advised me that she didn’t like working with super-skinny fashions, that it didn’t really feel proper. You do meet folks throughout the {industry} who empathise with the strict necessities we now have to stick to and perpetuate; it’s only a query of normalising this concern at a wider {industry} stage.
I look again to the modelling period of the Nineties with envy. Rising up, I bear in mind being captivated by Cindy Crawford, who has mentioned dimension 10 was regular for fashions on the time. It might be noteworthy to discover a single dimension 10 mannequin in most casting queues prior to now decade.
Regardless of all of this, I do and can proceed to work in excessive vogue. The occupation, regardless of its challenges, has provided me superb experiences and friendships. My trajectory has fostered connections and cultivated resilience. However the {industry} has an extended strategy to go. Including a couple of curvy fashions to catwalks isn’t almost sufficient. I lengthy for a day when my hips, and people of many different-sized ladies, match into couture attire – for the sake of the fashions, but in addition younger ladies all over the place.
Within the UK, Beat may be contacted on 0808-801-0677. Within the US, assist is obtainable at nationaleatingdisorders.org or by calling ANAD’s consuming issues hotline at 800-375-7767. In Australia, the Butterfly Basis is at 1800 33 4673. Different worldwide helplines may be discovered at Consuming Dysfunction Hope
