Amsterdam Fashion Week makes room for size inclusivity

Size inclusivity and body diversity are becoming a given for young designers, according to Danie Bles, director of the Amsterdam Fashion Week that starts on Friday.

“This is just how the new generation of designers automatically thinks,” Bles told NOS. “If you said that body diversity was an official target, they would almost think that was mad. [It is] a movement to the new normal.”

Designer Ruben Breed, who will present a collection under the name Ruben Jurriën in Amsterdam on Friday, told Dutch News that it makes more sense for clothes to fit bodies than for bodies to be selected to fit tiny clothes.

“It’s a bit mad,” he told Dutch News. “For years, fashion has been about showing an ‘ideal’ image, something that people want to strive towards to look beautiful,” he said. “But there are lots of things changing in the world and this is the perfect time to break through an old stigma.

“There are enough people who are happy to be fat, including me. There are enough people who are happy with their bodies but also want to see them in fashion spots. We want to look good too.”

The designer told NOS that he was used to making larger designs for himself but suggested this was an issue for some at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. “Teachers had questions about it, and I really had to fight for it,” he said.

His solution was to create clothes with pleats and folds in a design aesthetic that can fit various sizes and mould to the body.

Other brands such as the Amsterdam label Martan also create unisex trousers and shirts in loose-fitting shapes.

However, research from Vogue Business found this year that only 4% of models walking in fashion weeks in Paris, London, Milan and New York were a US size zero to four. Just 0.6% were a genuine “plus size” of more than a US size 14 (European 44).