Christian Siriano may be a familiar name. Known for his flamboyant attitude and angular haircut, he was a competitor, and the winner, on the fourth season of Project Runway. Since then, he has gone on to dress well-known celebrities, such as Taylor Swift (see Wonderstruck campaign), Rihanna and even former first lady, Michelle Obama, for the Democratic National Convention.
Last summer, he was the only designer willing to design a dress for Leslie Jones. Jones, headed to the premiere of her new movie, Ghostbusters, tweeted out that several designers had turned her down and were unwilling to design a dress for her.
Seeing her tweet, Siriano was quick to act. He stepped forward, and together they created the gorgeous red dress that she wore to the premiere.
Then comes Fall 2017. Siriano displayed his garden-themed collection this year at New York Fashion Week. Walking down the runway were vibrant colors, floral prints, solid-colored gowns and metallic mules (my personal favorites).
Most notable was the cropped sweatshirt worn by a model, that read: “We all come from the same garden.” Siriano’s message is clear. Not only did he include men and women of all races, he included women of all sizes, as well as transgender and gender non-conforming models.
Siriano told Glamour magazine, “We have a couple of male models and a beautiful trans model in the show this season. If you’re out shopping and you love a dress, it doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl or whatever.”
Siriano’s message is not one that you can typically find in the fashion world. When I think of runway shows, I think of hangry models who haven’t eaten for weeks in preparation. They walk down the runway and the clothes hang off of their bodies because there is hardly anything there.
While there certainly still are those skin and bone models, overall the fashion industry has improved its mindset. We now see women like Ashley Graham, a well-known, plus-size model, first walking for Michael Kors last season, walking down the runway. And while I certainly think that is a vast improvement, I think they are still missing a lot of women in between.
Siriano has done a great job of trying to represent as much of the population as he can. He was able to handpick models that represented what society actually looks like, and he let people know he doesn’t care what you look like because he is here to design for everyone.