AES#83 Inclusive Fashion and Body Image

For a very long time, the fashion industry has been a victim of standardization. It has lacked diversity and inclusion as it largely represents only the white, skinny, and young people.

In 1965, Harper’s Bazaar became the first fashion magazine to usher in some diversity in their fashion models by featuring a non-white model Donyale Luna on the cover.

In the past decade alone, the fashion and beauty industries have made monumental changes in regards to inclusivity, be it size diversity or racial representation. This shows  that an inclusive future is possible. 

However, there is still an endless amount of work to be done. Even today, inclusivity is often thrown around as a broad, trendy-heavy term in the fashion and beauty industry without a thought to the responsibility that comes with it. 

Ever since the existence of fashion inclusivity, one of the changes in the fashion industry is size inclusion. In favor of the body positivity movement, the representation of thick models and other body types is more common nowadays.
 
Other than size inclusivity, racial and ethnic diversity, along with people with disabilities, also need to be represented more in the fashion industry because
 
fashion inclusivity = fashion that is designed to be useful to anybody.

There's no doubt that everyone would like to be able to dress the way they like while also feeling comfortable. But, sometimes people don’t feel very confident to experiment with their styling due to the lack of body types and color representation in the fashion industry.

With fashion inclusivity, people of all body types and color  are more empowered to  express themselves. In addition, it will also help us to improve the social integration of people with disabilities through fashion.

Brands that are Practicing Inclusion, or Taking Steps to be More Inclusive:

1. Plus Size and Mid Size
2. Shoes
3. Accessories 
4. Underwear
5. Adaptive

So, here’s what we learn from these projects and concepts:

Inclusive fashion has taken a quantum leap from then to now. It has transcended size variations to include race, gender, disability, and age as other dimensions of inclusion. 

The inclusive sizing has been a trend that encompasses countries all around the globe and has a broad target audience including women, men, and children. Though its original purpose was to promote diversity, it also can be an interesting business opportunity for fashion brands.