“Inclusive” Should Be More Than Just a Branding Pivot
By Isabelle Storella
After years of the fashion industry strictly adhering to a size-zero standard for models, a trend has slowly emerged of brands changing the lack of diversity in their models. After being called out publicly, many brands such as Victoria’s Secret have attempted to revamp their images and regain support from customers by finally incorporating some diversity into their campaigns. While it seems the body positivity movement has been making a major impact on the fashion industry, take a second to think about what has actually changed. As social media feeds and store posters increasingly include bodies of all different sizes, the clothing on the rack tells a different story.
Walking into stores like Aerie, their walls are plastered with images of variously sized models and messages about “loving the real you” and how “the real you is sexy.” However, they only recently added G and H cups to their selection, which are available in only three band sizes, and their bralettes only go up to sizes D and DD in select styles. Their size options make it seem that smaller sizes are their target demographic, contradicting the body positivity-inspired brand they have crafted. While Aerie’s branding presents itself as helping those who do not fit the beauty standard to celebrate their bodies, their shopping experience inhibits that.
Similarly, the brand Everlane also came under fire for using plus-size models to promote their new inclusive campaign while only offering up to a size XL. As brands are changing up their images but not the products they actually sell, they are profiting off of the appearance of inclusivity without practicing it.
The focus on representation alone is harmful; brands capitalize on the reputation of being inclusive in theory without delivering on what their company actually produces – clothing for their customers. For people who don’t fit “straight sizes,” it’s hard to appreciate the message without actually fitting into a brand’s clothes. By building on and capitalizing off a movement specifically rooted in fat acceptance while not doing the work to foster that acceptance, these brands make it clear where their priorities are—their profit margins, not their customers.
The Judgment of Paris (1914), sculpture by Auguste Renoir and Richard Guino.