Are fashion shows no longer inclusive?

A couple of years ago, when inclusivity in fashion became a buzzword, every designer wanted to be a flagbearer of inclusive fashion by casting models in all shapes and sizes for their shows. But, this season’s India Couture Week seemed to be devoid of diversity with only a handful of inclusive models participating in it. To say that there was a paucity of model representation featuring various body types and abilities wouldn’t be wrong. From gender agnostic models to plus size, couturiers merely paid a lip service by hiring a handful of them to glide down the runway. In the name of tokenism, one could see content creator Sakshi Sindwani walk for Gaurav Gupta, Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla, and transgender model Gaia Kaur strut the ramp for Rimzim Dadu. It was in the year 2017, when Anjali Lama became the first transgender model to walk the ramp alongside the other pool models and soon after that fashion models swerved towards diversity with every show going inclusive while casting there models. And while this welcome change should have only grown exponentially, the recent couture week made us devoid of enough representation of culture and body types.
Mumbai-based Toshada Uma, who stands 4 feet 8 inches tall, is India’s first petite model who has been giving all the svelte and tall models on ramp a run for their money, with her assertive and confident catwalk. She has been a ramp regular and discerns that model casting for shows and shoots can only be inclusive if it becomes the norm, otherwise it is all tokenism till then. “I have never walked the runway with another model who’s petite before, not once. The best I’ve seen is the inclusion of maybe 3-4 plus sized female models/ a show. Another tricky bit here is the pay grade, while I get paid more than abundantly for participating in campaigns, shows are a different ballgame. Models feel discouraged to participate in fashion weeks in India as the pay is not on par with the hours and efforts they have to put in, regardless of how conventionally fitting they are,” she states.

A post shared by T O S H A D A तोषदा (@toshadaa)
“India couture week has never been inclusive, so there isn’t an inclusive era to compare it being lesser than to. The overall industry has only a handful of models that don’t fit the “norm” so to say. It’s a systemic issue that needs to be addressed as opposed to an isolated incident!,” she adds.
Ishpreet Kaur is the first turbaned female model to walk the ramp and she too opines that, the trend of diversity on ramp is declining. “I believe in the power of inclusivity to transform the fashion industry. While this season’s couture week may not have seen the diversity we’ve come to expect, I remain optimistic. As someone who’s been part of this industry, I’ve witnessed the power of inclusivity firsthand. It’s not just about checking boxes; it’s about creating a shift in perspective. The absence of diverse models this season is a stark reminder that we still have a long way to go.”

A post shared by Ishpreet Kaur (@___.ishpreet)
There has also been a decline in the modelling agencies signing up inclusive models for campaign shoots and TVCs. Earlier more and more agencies were scouting for plus size, gender agnostic, models with certain skin condition or even someone with a down syndrome. But this trend has slowed down. “ Agencies hire models according to the market requirement. There was a surge in inclusive models a while ago, but currently it is a mix of all types of models,” says Shikhar Sidharth, director of TSS Agency India.