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Size inclusivity in menswear was always a challenge, but for Spring/Summer 2025, we’ve seen a backslide again. Emerging and independent designers carried the mantle, while there was just a smattering of size-inclusive moments from major brands.
Vogue Business assessed the 65 SS25 menswear shows and presentations using image catalogues published on Vogue Runway, and contacted each brand to verify the findings (brands were given 48 hours to respond). Out of 3,099 looks across Milan and Paris, 98.5 per cent were straight-size (under EU 48), up from 98.3 per cent last season; 1.3 per cent were mid-size (EU 48-54), down from 1.5 per cent last season; while plus-size (EU 56+ or over XL) made up 0.2 per cent of looks, the same as last year.
This season, just three out of 65 brands (4.6 per cent) included at least one plus-size model, compared to two out of 66 (3 per cent) last season. Two seasons ago, for SS24, six shows out of 72 (8.3 per cent) featured at least one plus-size model. The season before, for AW23, eight shows out of 69 (11.5 per cent) featured at least one plus-size model.
There was no plus-size representation in Milan for SS25 menswear, for the second season in a row. Mid-size representation surfaced this season, reaching 1.1 per cent (up from 0 per cent last season). This was thanks, in part, to returning designer Magliano, one of Milan’s few more size-inclusive designers, who showed at Pitti Uomo last season. He presented five mid-size looks, representing 12.2 per cent of his collection. Visiting London designer Martine Rose featured two mid-size models (5.9 per cent) and Zegna’s Mads Mikkelsen cameo meant the brand had one mid-size look (2 per cent). There were also some mid-size looks in presentations, at A-Cold-Wall (which ranked second in Milan at 12 per cent) and Our Legacy (at 1.9 per cent).
In Paris, there was a small uptick in plus-size representation, which represented 0.4 per cent of looks in the French capital (compared to 0.2 per cent last season). Mid-size representation was 1.4 per cent this season, compared to 10.6 per cent last season. Bluemarble, 032c, Maison Mihara Yasuhiro, Y-3 and White Mountaineering each featured one mid-size look in their shows. Paris brand LGN Louis Gabriel Nouchi topped for overall diversity this season, with 26 per cent non-straight-size looks (22 per cent mid-size and 4 per cent plus-size), followed by Doublet at 13.2 per cent (5.3 per cent mid-size looks and 7.9 per cent plus-size).
“I’m really proud of my casting director Alexandre Junior Cyprien, to present the type of casting we do every season,” says Nouchi. “It’s really outside the box and from classic standards but it’s exactly what LGN is about. We are very conscious about the importance and necessity of diversity of bodies that need to be presented on the runway.”
“We always make sure that we have some [size diversity] — I would love to have more, honestly, but it’s tough,” adds Molly Ledoux, who has been casting Doublet’s shows since 2020.
Rick Owens ranked fifth this season, following his blockbuster 192-look show, which featured three plus-size looks (1.6 per cent) and 10 mid-size looks (5.2 per cent).
Typically, size representation among bigger players is limited each season. In previous seasons, major brands like Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen have entered the rankings for the first time with plus and mid-size representation, only to return to majority or 100 per cent straight-size in subsequent seasons.
Street casting: The highs and lows
Street casting is one way to attract prospective models with diverse body shapes from a variety of backgrounds. However, models say some brands that use plus-size street-cast models pay as little as €50 to walk in a show. This creates barriers for agency-signed models, whose agents often won’t let them walk for as little as €50, models say (the agency would usually take 20 per cent). In this sense, inclusivity should go hand in hand with equity, especially when brands are profiting from the perception that they are inclusive. “Brands know that street-casted people are so thrilled to make it on a runway show that they will accept anything,” says plus-size model Silvano Frere, who walked for Doublet this season. “Street casting is interesting but should be regulated the same way that typical casting is.”
Martine Rose always incorporates street casting for at least a portion of each show. For Rose’s Milan presentation, casting director Isabel Bush street cast models in London, though spotted other models outside train stations in Milan in the run-up. Both mid-size models in the show were street-cast women. “I think it’s really just about the character. We try and keep it as open from that place onwards,” Bush says. “Anyone that’s very confident in their body is always interesting for us. Samples are a huge factor, so it does depend on what’s available. But Martine has a studio team that can sometimes just like make something specifically for a person of a larger size if we still have someone in mind that we anticipate will be curvier.”
Ledoux says most shows she works on pay street-cast models and agency models the same wage, yet acknowledges that with the agent’s cut, the signed model is actually receiving less in the end. At Doublet’s show, while some street-cast models took part in casting tests, everyone selected for the final show was from an agency. “We’ve worked a lot with street-cast people, but more and more now we have agency models,” says Ledoux. “More and more we see agencies pushing plus-size models, even if it’s not much like two out of 200 people you see, but it’s a good start.” As a casting director, Ledoux says it’s important to ensure there’s diversity in the mix at castings so models don’t feel singled out.
Even when there is size representation, it is often the same models gaining the opportunities, Frere admits. “We’re not there for menswear yet,” says Frere. “Everybody keeps saying we’ll see next season, next season, next season, but I’ve been doing it for four seasons now and it’s not changing.”
The Ozempic effect
A new factor may be driving the backslide in men’s size inclusivity. Fashion reflects culture. And currently, popular culture is dominated by drastic weight-loss journeys and ‘glow ups’, since the rise of weight-loss drug Ozempic and ‘tweakments’ for men and women. Among men, analysts have seen an uptick in fitness and wellness, as more and more male celebrities use tweakments and Ozempic to glow up. This in part has propelled the sexy menswear trend, but may also be hurting size inclusivity on the runway, says Dan Hastings-Narayanin, deputy head of foresight at The Future Laboratory. “There was no interest in men’s plus-size anyway. But now, I fear it’s going to get squashed,” he says.
In the US, Ozempic can cost around $1,000 a month, meaning it’s heavily skewed to affluent consumers and the elite, the same audience luxury labels are going for, he adds. “If there’s no incentive to develop plus-size collections in the future, it’s really the end of something that has never started. At least we started talking about size inclusivity the past few years, but I think it’s going to end there.”
With data collection by Alyshea Wharton and data analysis by Emily Forkan.
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The Vogue Business Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear size inclusivity report
The Vogue Business Spring/Summer 2024 menswear size inclusivity report
