In today’s society, high fashion is dominated and characterized by female bodies that are exceptionally tall and lithe. Women with curvier bodies are left with extremely limited, if any, options for dressing themselves in high fashion. However, as of late, more and more high fashion brands have been expanding their repertoire to include those who wear above a size 12.
Luxury Italian fashion Brand, Marina Rinaldi, has recently launched a new ad campaign featuring curvaceous women as the models for their clothing. But it gets better- these aren’t just any plus size models. Marina Rinaldi gathered 12 of the most renowned plus-sized fashion bloggers from around the world to be featured as the models for the campaign. The campaign is not meant to just advertise plus-size clothing, but rather to advertise real women with real bodies and promote the notion that size should not stop women from being able to wear beautiful, high-end clothing.
Stephanie Zwicky, one of the bloggers featured in the campaign, sees fashion as an expression of self, rather than something that should be confined to the size and shape of a woman’s body. “To me, fashion should not have sizes and not be limited by a number in a jacket,” she says. “I’m not an activist, I just think al women should be given the opportunity to wear beautiful things- not just thin ones.”
Unfortunately, Marina Rinaldi is one among very few high-end brands offering styles for plus-size women. Despite this, the brand has emerged onto the Hollywood scene and has been worn by some of the curvier big-screen icons such as Christina Hendricks and Adele. The brand has been commended for producing high fashion clothing to fit curvier women, but also keeping this clothing on-par with current fashion trends and exhibiting high-quality garment tailoring, just as they do with their mainstream line.
Marina Rinaldi’s new campaign is exceptional- not only in that it allows a group of women who are often excluded from the world of high fashion into that world, but also in that it is inclusive of bodies of all shapes and sizes. It takes fashion back to what it is truly supposed to be about- the art of the clothing and the expression of one’s style, not the size of the person wearing the clothing. Hopefully in the near future we will start to see leading fashion brands take a page out of Marina Rinaldi’s book by beginning to create clothing in plus sizes. All bodies deserve the opportunity to wear gorgeous clothes!