Newport International Group
NEW YORK – Eden Miller didn't set out to make history last week when models walked the runway in her designs for New York Fashion Week.
But in a fashion world where thin has always been in, the models wearing Miller's work did exactly that, marking the first time in the international showcase's 70-year history that plus-size fashions were featured.
Miller hopes her show will legitimize plus-size fashions – and the women who wear them – to the notoriously curve-averse world of couture and style critics.
"I need to do this right,'' she said, "I want to be one of the designers at Fashion Week so that I can open the door for other designers who are valid choices to be there.''
Her collection was presented in the "Box," the smallest of the venues at Lincoln Center, where Fashion Week is happening. The space was crowded with stylists, journalists, specialized buyers, and, of course, plus-size fashionistas.
Nikki Muffoletto, a plus-size model working on a documentary about the treatment of women in the modeling industry, applauded the decision by Fordham University's Fashion Law Institute to feature full-figured styles in their annual show.