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• Fashion schools encourage students to become designers who create smaller sample sizes and clothing collections with limited size ranges.

• These students grow up to be the future of fashion working independently or for clothing companies.

• These designers form ideas and create collections based on the world and the “norms” created by the fashion establishment.

• Sample pieces are created for runway collections ranging from sizes 0-4. This then dictates the size of the models used.

• Sample sizes, generally sizes 4 and under, are provided to the media for editorial shoots therefore the models used must be a size 4 and under. This eliminates the use of any higher sizes and therefore larger models.

• Magazines are then obligated to feature editorials and fashion trends that relate to women wearing a size 4 and under. Diversity has been replaced with uniformity.

1) Fashion Schools  Re-evaluate the philosophies being passed on to every generation of fashion students by educators including creating limiting sample sizes, designing only to a size 12-14 and implying that fashionable clothing should end at a certain size.

WHY?
  • The way in which fashion students are taught dictates what knowledge is carried into their careers, into their collections, onto their runways and therefore carried out to the masses, therefore change must start at the root of fashion.

2) Designers  Create ONE (or more) runway outfit(s) for one or more of your upcoming fashion shows in a size 6,8,10,12 or 14 (or your highest line size) to be worn by models larger than a size 4. Create ONE (or more) plus-size sample(s) should your label carry plus sizes.

WHY?
  • To encourage size diversity in print and television media.
  • This is highly attainable and financially feasible to accomplish – a designer does not have to create outside of his or her standard collection size range.
  • This enables the media the opportunity to feature a model over a size 4.
  • In a society controlled by images that help mold perceptions, women need to know that size diversity exists and should be acceptable.

3) Designers  Create ONE (or more) sample sizes for a future collection in a size 6,8,10,12 or 14 (or your highest line size) to be made available to magazines and the press in order to encourage the use of size diversity in print media editorials and coverage. Create ONE (or more) plus-size sample(s) should your label carry plus sizes.

WHY?
  • To encourage size diversity in print and television media.
  • This is highly attainable and financially feasible to accomplish – a designer does not have to create outside of his or her standard collection size range.
  • This enables magazines the opportunity to feature a model over a size 4 in an editorial spread.
  • In a society controlled by images that help mold perceptions, women need to know that size diversity exists and should be acceptable.

4) Magazines  Feature ONE model size 6,8,10,12,14 or higher, in a minimum of ONE outfit, in a fashion editorial in an upcoming issue.

WHY?
  • Fashion needs to promote the philosophy that size diversity in print is normal.
  • Magazines represent the fashion world and act as an educational tool to the masses and as such have a responsibility to represent all their readers and potential readers.
  • Currently, many models over a size 4 appearing in magazines are featured in “Before & After’s” or “Dress For Your Body Type” stories therefore implying the need to be fixed or in stories about weight or size. An editorial photo proves that given the means, and without having to offer an explanation, a larger sized model is just as talented, fashionable and beautiful as any other model.

 

A Little Bit About Liis and Diane

Diane Pellini and Liis Windischmann have a combined 20 years experience modelling in the fashion world. With successful modelling careers under their belts, they decided in 2006 to create Beyond the Sky Productions, a company that celebrates size diversity. They felt it was time to create a significant change in the fashion industry emphasizing the need to change the way we think – especially about “the forgotten zone” sizes (straight sizes 14 to 20) and plus sizes. After producing their first project The Fenomenal Calendar, and being inundated with letters from the public, they realized they needed to publically address the many issues being expressed to them. What people wear and see in magazines and on runways help define who they are, how they perceive others and how others perceive them. For this reason, Liis and Diane are now becoming leading voices advocating size acceptance and diversity in the media.

Immense change cannot happen overnight and Diane and Liis know this. Walk the Catwalk is a simple solution to start reducing the gap between the long ingrained perceptions of the fashion world and the needs of everyday people in the real world, to start counting all sizes in. They believe that implementing rules and regulations is not the solution to this problem. Solutions are currently being offered to change fashion at the end of its process – this pair aims to prove that change needs to come from fashion’s foundation by changing the very philosophies that have helped create it.

 


To know more about them, please visit: www.liisweb.com , www.dianepellini.com

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