NEW YORK – To woots and cheers from the crowd, women with bodies not often seen on fashion runways strutted with smiles on their faces wearing pieces from Loft’s new plus line, including five cast from hundreds who attended an alternative New York Fashion Week event, The Curvy Con.
Size inclusivity was on the minds of these women, about 1,000 from around the world who flocked to the three-day celebration at a Midtown venue decked out with a pop-up shop and booths filled with fashion and beauty products. It was the fourth annual Curvy Con, the second to coincide with Fashion Week.
Models prepare backstage before presenting the Loft spring 2019 collection during Fashion Week Friday, Sept. 7, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen).The gathering, with panel discussions, fitness sessions and workshops on style, was co-founded by style influencers Chastity Garner Valentine and CeCe Olisa.
“We saw a need for plus-size fashion and inclusivity to be aligned with mainstream fashion,” Olisa said after the Loft show. “The lack of plus-size fashion options doesn’t make us angry, but it is a very clear call to action for the work that we do. We wanted to show that there’s an appetite for plus-size fashion. There are women who are ready and willing to shop and buy at all levels, from super cheap all the way up to designer.”
This year’s guest speakers included tennis pro Venus Williams, who has her own activewear line, EleVen by Venus Williams, designer Tracy Reese, who sits on the board of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and Lizzo, a singer, rapper and body-positive advocate.