News just in that won’t surprise anybody: last month’s fashion week catwalks featured fewer mid or plus-sized models than the season before.
Analysis released by Vogue Business of every show in New York, London, Milan and Paris found that, of the more than 7,000 looks presented across 182 shows and presentations, 97.6 per cent were worn by models who were between UK sizes 4 and 8; 2.1 per cent by mid-size models between a 10 and 16; and 0.3 per cent by size 18 or over plus-size models.
Next up: what bears do in woods and the Pope’s religious affiliation. The fashion industry is hardly known for its progressive views on body diversity, after all. Yet the numbers matter because at one time they seemed to be moving the other way. In 2019 the number of plus-size models booked for shows almost doubled within a year.
The difference between then and now, of course, is the juggernaut rise of GLP-1 drugs and, with them, a return to the sort of thin culture last seen hanging off size double-zero hipbones during the early Noughties. With the advent of weight-loss drugs, a brief window of body positivity — with its “stylish at any size” mantras — seems to be closing.
“Where have all the curve models gone?” asked the shownotes at the Brazilian designer Karoline Vitto’s autumn 2026 collection. Her clothes span from XS to 3XL (24-28) and celebrate the bare arms, midriffs and thighs that women often come under pressure to “cover up”. This season inspiration came from Nineties and Noughties slip dresses and low-rise waistbands. “Reimagined without the heroin chic body ideals,” she clarified.
Vitto’s slot on the London schedule almost certainly helped the UK catwalks come top for size representation — although still only 0.8 per cent of looks were plus-size. The season before, 2.8 per cent were (midsize looks remained constant at 6.5 per cent). Paris was bottom of the table, with 0.4 per cent mid-size and 0.1 per cent plus (down from 1.5 per cent and 0.6 respectively). Meanwhile, in Milan the designer Brunello Cucinelli used exclusively midsize models at his presentation.
The clearest metaphor at the shows, however, was not on the catwalk but seated on the front row: Oprah Winfrey, 72 and 23kg down after courses of Mounjaro and Wegovy (Ozempic), wearing a roster of tightly belted outfits. All around her were fashion industry types who have tried these drugs and enjoyed the benefits. I am one of them (six weeks 18 months ago; lost a stone) but it doesn’t follow that I enjoy all the knobbly spines and protruding ribs on show either.
Fashion follows the money, though, and where once this meant focusing on emerging affluence in the Middle East or China, it now manifests as body shape. This January about 1.6 million Brits reported using a GLP-1 within the past year; millions more are expected to do so by 2030. Figures from the business intelligence company Morning Consult show that, in the US, users are twice as likely to earn $100,000 and over as among the general population. A wealthy jabbing elite are now driving trends in fashion as well as healthcare as they restock their wardrobes and explore styles they might once have considered off-limits.
“Any dress that shows her figure sells,” a retail insider recently told the fashion consultancy Matter. “I can’t keep short jackets in stock. We are in a belt craze, as waists are small in this [GLP-1] moment.”
“This isn’t just about looking thin,” says Mikala Jamison, author of the Substack Body Type. “It’s about looking like you have time and money — Pilates arms and low body fat. Not heroin chic but ‘luxe lean’ instead.”
On the high street meanwhile, Vitto has been working with Pull & Bear (in the same Inditex stable as Zara) on extending its size range up to 2XL (22-24). “We’re not going anywhere,” she said in her show notes, “no matter what the trends might be.”
