How Do We Fix Menswear’s Size Problem?

It isn’t revelatory to say fashion is a fat-phobic industry. Shockingly slow to change (even when it expects brand-new sartorial propositions every six months), it’s only been in the last decade that we’ve seen a shift away from the skeletal silhouettes that have long dominated the modern industry towards something a little more indicative of the real world. Today’s It-girls include Paloma Elsesser and Precious Lee (the latter making history as the first plus-size model to walk Versace in S/S 21), who have become certified supermodels – something unheard of in the days of heroin chic. While change has been slow, this shift in womenswear has been promising. On the flip side, when it comes to menswear, if the A/W 23 shows are any indication, there’s still a long way to go.

Last week, Vogue Business reported that of the 69 menswear shows the style bible covered, a measly 8 of them included at least one plus-size model, including Bianca Saunders and LGN Louis Gabriel Nouchi. While the former explained to me leading up to his show 'if we do our job good, it has to fit everyone', it appears a majority of brand's don't share that ethos. To grasp why menswear has been slower at adopting change in regard to body diversity compared to its female counterparts we have to look at how our patriarchal society treats the sexes differently. Though it's undeniable that we all feel pressure to live up to unrealistic ideals, it’s always been the case that voicing any vulnerability has long been framed as an inherently feminine trait. While masculinity places aesthetic value on physicality, it adversely affects mental health through repressive pressures.

As a teen in the 2000s, popular media was rife with content targeting young girls with eating disorders through PSAs and TV movies, with boys like me left out of place with my own struggles with body image. While I’ll never fully grasp the pressures the women around me face when comparing themselves to the likes of Naomi Campbell or Gisele Bundchen, as a boy there was a degree of shame in not only my struggle with weight but also feelings of vulnerability for having such insecurities. Being queer also came with its own internal struggle with the spotlight already on my own femininity; my mind would run rampant with anxieties about how I would further be stigmatised by a ‘feminine’ desire to fit into a certain aesthetic mould.

This experience, I now know, is all too relatable for many men, specifically those within the beauty and fashion industry. An indication of these fears and insecurities men face can be seen in a UK Medical Research Council study that found 25% of those with eating disorders are male, but only 10% of men living with an eating disorder will seek professional help.

‘I know people who’ve been destroyed by fashion. They had to change their body type to be accepted in the fashion industry,’ explains Doublet’s casting director Molly Ledoux. The Japanese streetwear brand founded by Masayuki Ino in 2012, was one of the limited shows this season that dared show body diversity on the runway, a point that Ledoux is passionate about. She tells me over Zoom that many of her friend circle work outside the microcosm of fashion, giving her a fresh perspective on the world she wants to reflect through her work. ‘I don’t want you to see the difference between the models, it’s just a spectrum of reality.’

This she achieved through a brilliant mix of street casting and professional models of all shapes and sizes, tall and short. For Ledoux, only casting one or two plus-size models among the standardised sample sizes does no good in changing how we see diversity in fashion. ‘I don’t think it's the way. It’s dangerous for the model, and the message.’ Even as one of a handful of brands that cast plus-size models in their show, Ledoux still aims to do better in the future. ‘It's not a good balance right now. Even at Doublet, we’re talking about 40 models, and only five of them were not skinny. It’s not equal for me, yet.’

While she admits the industry is slow to change, the young Parisian creative is hopeful about the change she has seen and the change she has been a part of. ‘To be honest, with brands like Doublet, I see the sample size has changed. It used to be S, and now you have M and L samples.’ Change has to start at the very beginning and can’t be pinned on any specific individual. Rather, it’s a conversation between the team and the creative director. ‘You speak about art direction, and the character you want to represent. It’s this conversation where you also have to discuss equality and balance.’

Doublet’s stylist Dogukan Nesanir agrees with Ledoux’s goal that change begins with reflecting on the realities around them, rather than striving for an unachievable ideal. ‘The importance in all of this is that we see, in our everyday lives plus-size people and we can’t just ignore the fact that this group of people would like to dress as sexy, luxurious or cool, as the ‘normal’ customer’. The German/Turkish stylist whose work has been featured in T Magazine and Interview never felt represented within fashion growing up, which drove him to provide a platform for marginalised voices within the industry.

When it comes to who is responsible for shaping fashion’s future, Nasanir explains that ‘we all have a big responsibility but I do think casting directors have the biggest. The big casting directors have literally the power to change the image of an entire brand, [but] how can a casting director cast bigger people if the entire collection is made for a size 0?’. A big trend in menswear this season was oversized tailoring, which Nasanir has an increasing issue with. ‘It shows bigger people the middle finger and tells us that it's okay to be wearing these fits unless you are ‘actually’ this size’.

American designer Geoffrey Beene told Tim Blanks after his A/W 92, ‘I can’t imagine design not starting with an ideal. Otherwise, you’re compromising from the beginning’, when asked about his choice of models. I think about this quote often when considering why fashion is so avoidant of changing its stance on body positivity. Of course, now it's difficult not to see it as a harmful excuse for exclusion in creating a hierarchy, something that feels increasingly problematic in today’s age.

In order to create a more diverse a progressive institution, it's hopeful seeing creatives like Ledoux and Nasanir are challenging these outdated notions of idealised standards within menswear, in favour of reflecting the world around them. In fact, it isn't so much going against an 'idealised' form, but redefining what ideal means to the next generation. One that values diversity, community and inclusion. As for why these changes have been slow to adopt within menswear, Nasanir explains ‘It all comes down to prejudice! It isn’t chic or beautiful to be big. It isn’t a trend to just be yourself and feel yourself. I’m still waiting for this to happen because it goes hand in hand with acceptance, and as we know the industry is everything but accepting.’ That might be the case, but at least there is hope as long as like-minded people like him continue to drive change.