Curves ahead

Reuters

FULL ON: Fashion label Angel Alternative at Full Figure Fashion Week, New York, in June.

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Real women are demanding visibility, and it's a trend too big for designers to ignore.

The consumer has spoken, and they're not shutting up. Real women of all shapes, ages and sizes are storming the catwalk, and designers are being forced to take notice.

There's been a swell of fashion shows in the past 24 months featuring models bigger than a size 14, and of all ages.

Leading the way is The Carpenter's Daughter, the first "plus- size" label to show at New Zealand Fashion Week, with its models ranging in age from teens to senior citizens.

Canadian-born knitwear designer Mark Fast used several plus-size models for his London Fashion Week show earlier this year, and in late June New York played host to the second Full Figured Fashion Week.

Elena Miro, whose label caters for petite as well as large women, put voluptuous models on the runway for her Milan Fashion Week show, and in May models of all ages, shapes and sizes took part in a high-profile Paris fashion show organised by the French association Catholic Relief.

That same month, Big Girls Models agency in Sydney made headlines when it staged a protest at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week claiming it had been shut out by the local industry.

New Zealand womenswear label Long Island produces clothing in sizes 10 to 30. Director Phillipa Wilberforce says she's heard all manner of "horror" stories from customers regarding both size and age bias.

"We've heard stories of some retailers actually barring [people's] way into a store and saying things like 'we don't have your size in here', or being treated as if they were abnormal because they're larger than a size 14 and still want a range of styles to choose from.

"[And] older women tell us that they can feel unwelcome because of their age."

The Carpenter's Daughter designer Caroline Marr is all for empowering curvy women to hold their heads up proudly and feel worthy of wearing "fashion".

For her 2011 spring/summer collection, Lady Column, inspiration comes from the idea of the curvaceous silhouette turning into a classical deity, embodying and embracing the shape of all women.

By providing models and plus-size mannequins for her editorial shoots there's no excuses for fashion editors not to use them, she says.

Another designer ahead of the curve is Wairarapa's Lorraine Hall- Morison, whose label, Hall (launched in 2008), is now available in boutiques (not just "dedicated" larger-size stores) nationwide.

A talented machinist, Hall-Morison became a fashion designer by accident after not being able to find a T-shirt suitable for her size, that wasn't "clingy".

She began sewing her own shaped T-shirts, selling them initially at the Martinborough and Petone Fairs.

Now, in demand around the country, her garments are made for sizes 10 to 24 (XXS to 4XL).

Meanwhile, Britain's Liberal Democrat Minister Lynne Featherstone has launched her own attack on the fashion industry - with a campaign designed to boost body confidence among the young.

Backed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Featherstone wants airbrushed images that reduce models' sizes and erase imperfections to contain a health warning, or an official mark revealing that they are not authentic.

- © Fairfax NZ News