History was made during this year’s New York Fashion Week. In it’s 70 years of existence, this was the first year that a plus-sized designer showed off her collection on the runway.
Designer Eden Miller is to thank for what will hopefully begin a trend to change what traditional fashion shows will look like in the future with her spring/summer 2014 collection for her line called Cabiria.
Miller’s line, which is geared towards women from size 12 to 24, was hand-picked by the Fashion Law Institute along with five other designers for their talent.
She made it clear in an interview with Refinery 29 that despite designing for larger women she likes to compare her line with the rest of the fashion world and not just other plus lines.
From looking over the six different looks Miller presented last Friday, I can tell she’s not afraid of a bold print or two, which is what I really love about her collection. She was able to scale up her prints successfully and create pieces that were tailored to fit beautifully on larger sized women.
I really think that more plus-sized designers need to be highlighted in this growing market. Most women nowadays are considered “plus-sized” after all, making it difficult to find clothes in their sizes especially since most clothing lines end at size 12.
By showing off Miller’s line at NYFW, I think we begin to force more clothing lines to consider embracing plus-sized designs. Another big step in breaking the barrier between straight and plus-sized was already made earlier this year by a modeling agency that aimed to represent girls of all sizes.
It’s so nice to see people in the fashion industry finally recognizing that beauty is not centered on only a small group of sizes, especially those that the average woman would never be able to fit into.
Ultimately, it’s the woman who is wearing the clothes that makes any piece relevant. The clothes should fit the woman, not the other way around.
It’s like what Miller said in a Huffington Post article: “If you have a bigger body, you shouldn’t pretend you are a tiny person,” Miller said, “There is no point.”