Not-Quite-New York Fashion Week

A deeper look into the diversity of the fashion industry’s biggest shows

By Marley Richmond

After seeing Billy Porter’s iconic ballgown look for this year’s Oscars, I was eager for more fashion that pushed the envelope; for that, I looked to February’s New York Fashion Week. Yet while this year’s showings were more diverse than ever in some areas (especially race), gender diversity and size representation were far below ideal. 

For the last five years, racial diversity at New York Fashion Week has been on the rise. While there wasn’t a huge increase between the last two seasons, this year’s shows saw almost fifty percent models of color, with at least two walking in every show. Some of the big names in this area were Pyer Moss, whose show was 100% women of color, Tommy x Zendaya, Gypsy Sport, and Chromat, all notorious for their intersectional models and diverse showings. 

From dapper, primarily black and white looks at the Tommy x Zendaya show, to bright, bold bodysuits with contrasting netting from Chromat, this Fashion Week gave a wide array of styles to fit a wide array of models. Still, a larger majority (almost 70 percent) of NYFW’s top-billed models—those who walked in the most shows, this year between ten and thirteen castings—are white. The four models of color in this category are seen by many as token representatives of minority groups. And given the disparity between representation in ad season (less than 40% featured models of color), it is fair to criticize and question how genuine designers’ efforts towards representation really are. 

Beyond racial diversity, representation of plus-sized, over fifty, and transgender or nonbinary people drop to below 3% of all models. Sixty-eight plus-sized models walked the runway this year, a genuinely (and unfortunately still low) record-breaking 2.92%. And while this has almost doubled since fall 2019, there is tremendous room for growth. The same handful of designers, including Christian Siriano and, again, Chromat and Tommy x Zendaya, cast most of these women. 

It comes as absolutely no surprise that these shows were stunning—perhaps even more so because real women could see themselves represented. Siriano showed that tight-fitting leather doesn’t only come in size 00, and curves look damn good in dark, dominatrix-inspired gowns. In a day and age where the average person would be considered plus-sized by the fashion industry, it is more important than ever to make clothes an inclusive outlet for representation. Under 3% representation in some of the biggest shows of the season is simply not cutting it. 

New York Fashion Week let down the transgender and nonbinary communities as well, with a disappointingly small number of transgender and nonbinary models in this year’s shows. Models with diverse gender identities made up only 36 bookings of 2,327, less than 2%. And while androgynous styles could have worked to break down the gender binary as well, there was little experimentation or boundary-pushing design on this front. It is no longer enough to consider putting trousers on women as “defying gender roles.” Since the ’60s, stars like David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, Freddie Mercury, and Prince have brought more attention and acceptance to androgynous styles that incorporate feminine elements into men’s fashion. Yet these looks, like Cobain’s floral dress, Mercury’s plunging, sequined bodysuit, or Bowie’s iconic makeup, ended up staying on the stage, never making it to mainstream (or even designer) fashion. Certainly, no one at NYFW took as many risks, or changed the name of fashion, like these stars did.

Today, seeing a man in a dress still causes controversy. While New York Fashion Week could break boundaries by celebrating diverse gender identities and gender expressions through fashion, they have largely failed to do so. Transgender and nonbinary communities are not strongly represented in these iconic shows, and while suits on women are commonplace, feminine styles for men are still widely taboo. 

Fashion has always been one of the pillars of self-expression, yet one of the biggest events in the industry, New York Fashion Week, consistently comes up short in representing real people. Each year, progress is being made towards a more truthful depiction of the population, but genuine effort is still necessary to break boundaries, eliminate tokenism, and push for more shows—not just a handful—to incorporate intersectionally diverse models in their runway shows.