Christian Siriano has continued to cement himself as an advocate for body inclusivity this New York Fashion Week, and the internet has taken notice.
After stirring up buzz this summer when he volunteered to dress actress Leslie Jones for the Ghostbusters premiere after no one else offered to, Siriano is now taking his body positive message to the runway. He featured five plus-sized models at his show on September 10 and designed an exclusive look for model Ashley Graham, who sat front row at the event.
Graham was joined by long-time Siriano fans Christina Hendricks, Kelly Osbourne and Pamela Anderson, all women celebrated for their curves, making a powerful statement on Siriano’s stance on body acceptance. The designer, who is a former winner of Project Runway, is also launching a collaboration with plus-sized retailer Lane Bryant, available in stores on September 12.
Twitter erupted in support of the show, with fashion editors and fans alike sharing their support of the inclusivity, a rare sight on the runway.
Christian Siriano had a models-of-all-sizes show. #NYFW pic.twitter.com/lgGUiR9T4c
— Vanessa Friedman (@VVFriedman) September 10, 2016
idc what hf twitter says but props to christian siriano for using plus size models on the runway pic.twitter.com/33FjwabHIU
Ad rendering preventing in staging
Ad position: web_incontent_pos1— ️ (@saintfuls) September 11, 2016
Hats off to Christian Siriano for using plus size models for his S/S17 collection. I absolutely LOVE this. #NYFW pic.twitter.com/VZmEN587JP
— Meena (@meenavoguee) September 11, 2016
According to Brandwatch, Christian Siriano has been mentioned nearly 8,000 times, with about 75 percent of the mentions taking place between the night of his show on September 10 and September 11.
Ad position: web_incontent_pos2
Sentiment around the mentions was 99.2 percent favorable, or “outlandishly positive,” according to Kellan Terry, senior data analyst at Brandwatch. He noted that the rare unanimous favorability was in regards to his support for body positivity. Among the ten most popular hashtags used in tweets related to Christian Siriano was #sizesforall, which accumulated nearly 600,000 impressions on Twitter.
Siriano said in an interview with Glamour that while he currently offers his designs in up to size 14, he would like to eventually stock size 20 and higher, noting that including plus-sized models was an important part of his show this season.
“We knew we wanted to have curvy girls in the show, so we pre-made things that I thought would work on their bodies,” Siriano said about preparing for his fashion show. “I made 12s, 14s, and 16s in pieces I thought would look good on those sizes, and then we altered them on the girls. Who, by the way, came in our normal casting. It was amazing.”
