For what it’s worth, Cadenet Taylor poured her own money into this venture, against the advice of many people who warned her otherwise, just so that she can make a product that doesn’t only cater to people with smaller bodies. “Someone's gotta do it, you know what I mean? I think that we have to give creative people more options to allow them to make these decisions.
Both, however, are using that focus to create possibility, launching their own collections aimed at people of any size. Paloma joined forces with Miaou, the womenswear label renowned for its signature fit of trousers, created by Alexia Elkaim. Sizes in the Paloma collection range from XS-4XL, and rather than trying to quantify these in terms of standardised sizing , Miaou’s website presents a, listing the measurements of each individual piece.
Ashley, for her part, has recently launched her second collection with Spanish bridal label Pronovias, creating 17 dresses ranging from sizes US 0-32 . “I really feel the first collection was such a success because we didn’t create it just for ‘curvy women’ but for all types of women,” she says. I don’t doubt that she’s right. The notion that women above a certain size should be segregated into their own category is nothing short of dehumanising.
Essentially, fashion is telling the majority of women around the world that they are the exception. During a TED Talk she delivered back in 2015, Ashley addressed this idea: “Did you know that the plus-size fashion industry actually starts at a US size 8 [UK 12] and goes up to a US size 16 [UK 20]? So basically what I’m saying is that the majority of this room right now is considered plus-size.