In recent years, mainstream platforms like Heineken Lagos Fashion Week, Arise Fashion Week, and GTCO Fashion Weekend have been accused of lacking inclusion on their runways. Many believe that the models who get to walk the shows are only chosen from a certain demographic – young, skinny, and conventionally attractive individuals. 

In 2017, the launch of Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty caused a monumental shift in mainstream fashion discourse with her 50-plus shades of foundation, giving a new voice to the mantra “beauty for all.” This shift awakened many consumers who began to protest against brands that aren’t representative of all women. Although the conversation about less-inclusive brands is yet to pick up the same kind of steam in Nigeria, it is still casually discussed by people who care. They contend that representation should be the staple  for every brand. People want to skim magazines and find people who look like them, find products that match their skin tones in every makeup line, and watch runway shows that showcase bodies that look like theirs. 

A 2024 report by Nigerian journalist, Bolaji Akinwade, for CNN, revealed that some Nigerian fashion labels were “forced” to show in private last year during the Lagos Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2023 shows, because there were discussions within the industry centred around the certain presentations been deemed too queer. 

When we place a microscopic lense on the Nigerian fashion runway we find out that fat people, queer people, old people, short people, and disabled people are either  underrepresented or missing from the scene completely. The Nigerian fashion industry thrives on slow fashion, even for ready-to-wear brands, meaning that Nigerians would prefer a custom-made fit when buying from a national designer. Therefore, the wrangling of size inclusivity is mainly found on the runway. There are even several Nigerian brands that proudly only cater to plus-size individuals as their branding strategy

Globally, the world of runway fashion has always been exclusive: tall, skinny models with sculpted cheekbones, and arresting strides have been viewed as the quintessential model type for ages. Vogue Business analysed all shows and presentations on Vogue Runway for Autumn/Winter 2023 to determine the level of size-inclusivity amid the clamour for representation and these are the metrics: 96.5% of models were straight-sized (US 0-2), 3.8 % were mid-size (US 6-12), and 0.6% were plus-size (US 14+). 

The image of an ideal model is a Western import, a reflection of their beauty standards prior to the advent of BBL fashion. In fact,  former Chanel creative director, the late Karl Lagerfeld, told the German magazine Focus in 2009, “No one wants to see curvy women,” as he defended the well-established practise of hiring rail-thin models. The feminine beauty ideal in most African countries, especially Nigeria, the most populous Black nation on earth, is the curvy woman. Therefore, we can deduce that the lack of size inclusivity on Nigerians runways is not a reflection of our own society’s beauty standards, but adapted industry norms which have continued.

In September 2024, Alexandra Obochi, a plus size model and multidisciplinary creative, lit a torch on the lack of inclusivity on the Nigerian runway, with her GTCO fashion week model casting audition. “You’ve never seen a woman like me on GTCO’s runway, have you?” she asked. “And let’s be honest, size 12 is not a plus size model.” While blasting GTCO for constantly not including plus-size women on their runway, she emphasised that 67% of Nigerian women are above size 14 and fashion – and the runway – should belong to everybody. She also acknowledges that steps are being taken by designers to include bigger people in fashion but there is still much work to be done. 

Her audition video, which was circulated by several media outlets, garnered over 900,000 views on her TikTok account, leading to an avalanche of conversations and debates across social media still firmly stands by the primary message in her video, despite the backlash she received on social media. “Plus size women are women as well,” she tells The NATIVE. “Yes, the runway is a place where art is put on full display but I believe that art imitates life.

“Everybody wears clothes. I have never heard or seen brands reject money from plus-size women, some brand’s strategies even include just catering to plus-size women, so if we are good enough to be your customers, why not have us on your runway?”

In response to the critics who believed Obochi lacked the major criteria for modelling which is the ability to strut, she says, “You don’t expect all bodies to move the same. And as I said on Twitter, it doesn’t have to be me, it could be any plus-size model. ” 

Misturah Abisola, a fashion enthusiast and the creative director of an inclusive modelling agency, Misty Glam Company (MSG), believes that plus-size models deserve their spot on any runway. When asked if she sees models of all sizes on Nigerian runways, she says: “In some shows, yes. But in many, sadly, no. A lot of runway shows still stick to a narrow view of what beauty should look like. That’s exactly why we launched Misty Glam Company to flip the script. We believe that every body type, skin tone, and personal story deserves its moment on the runway. When fashion embraces diversity, it’s no longer just about the clothes, it becomes a celebration of the people wearing them.”

Misturah believes that the runway is a global stage and what is “acceptable” influences how we see ourselves. Exclusivity doesn’t just show us who’s considered “beautiful,” it sends a message about who is considered worthy. She encourages Nigerian brands to be at the forefront of change in this global issue.  

Seeing the models who got to the next stage of attending the GTCO physical casting, we can safely surmise that Obochi was right when she inferred that GTCO wasn’t going to pick her because she was plus-size. “After rejecting my audition I tried to reach out to GTCO in hopes of getting my brand, Ndiiche, which is big on inclusivity and representation on the runway, but I received no reply from the organisers,” she says. “I don’t know if they don’t check their mail.” 

Despite the rejection, Obochi didn’t back down, she tried to get her brand on GTCO’s runway by reaching out to the organisers. An attempt to ensure that  models like her are seen in their fashion arena and was still unsuccessful.  

At another end of this debate are experts who are of the opinion that runway modelling has been shaped to exclude plus-size people for a variety of valid reasons. Xorlali Plange, a costume designer, shared his thoughts in a Twitter thread. “Models are simply canvases on which creatives display their work,” he explained.“It’s just a three-dimensional representation of a sample; a sample of the creator’s art and not wearability. This is why models are always straight-sized.” Plange believes that agitation should only appear when brands fail to include plus-size models on clothing websites (where real clothes are being sold) because that’s what needs representation.

Plange further elucidates the reasons for this exclusion. “Now a model as a 3-dimensional form is expected to be flat, it’s literally like hanging a dress on a moving wall for view,” he says. “Which is why in early modelling, apart from being slim, they can’t have wide hips and prominent breasts. Runway modelling is not about the model. It has never been. In several cases, models who were considered ‘pretty’ were not allowed to walk. They can do commercials and photoshoots, but they can’t walk. It was said their pretty faces took attention from clothes.”  

In a bid to make sense of why plus-sized models like Obochi feel sad about being shut out from the runway, he suggests that people who walked on the runway were suddenly deemed to be the face of beauty standards and he isn’t certain on how this shift happened.

Another point Plange made was the financial burden on designers to make these dresses. “In later years, some designers also argued that sample dresses needed to be small to save fabric and haberdasheries, since sample clothes don’t bring money directly to the designer,” he explained. “At New York University, we’re more inclined towards half scales, so some are actually using 3D printing.” By his reasoning, designers looking to save on costs prefer straight-size models, as the runway is simply a display of ‘‘if I can make it for them, then I can make it for you too.”

Ruth*, a fashion vlogger, says that from her experience working as a creative editor for a hair care brand, people demand for one thing, yet they don’t show up when it is presented to them. “I have worked as a creative editor for a hair care brand. I will tell you this, videos of models with long and full hair always do better. People love to clamour for inclusivity but appealing to what the majority wants to see will get you there faster.”

Ruth also agrees with Plange that inclusion is financially tasking for designers. She averred that sartorial pieces on the runway are usually custom made hence it takes a lot of time, effort, and money. So, logically, brands will only make runway dresses for straight-size people “Also, if you follow up on a lot of fashion shows you see that when plus-sized models are put on the runway people don’t talk about the dress rather, they fixate on the fact that the brand used a plus-sized model. This reiterates my point that dominant features take away from the dress.”

Ruth goes as far as criticising the idea that all brands should be inclusive. She believes that brands are allowed to have a target audience. She compares the agitations about size inclusivity on the runway to those of the beauty industry. Tir Tir, a Korean beauty brand, was caught up in controversy for having limited shades, but their primary consumers are Koreans. “Koreans are light-skinned, it will be an unwise financial decision to make foundations for everybody,”she says. Ruth concludes by stating that instead of the constant debate we need to start supporting inclusive brands. In consideration of Ruth’s argument, the statistics say otherwise, plus-size women have always been the big spenders in fashion. The plus size clothing market is currently valued at  US$288 billion  and is projected to reach US$ 501.35 billion by 2033.

No better insight can be provided in this discussion than from runway models themselves. Chinelo Igbegbunam, a runway and pageant model with over seven years of experience, believes that sizes differ based on who you work with. “International brands love to go for size zero, two, four, and six, but that’s not the case with Nigerian designers, they usually select size eight because they desire to work with models who have prominent hips,” she says.

Chinelo believes that you cannot solely blame show organisers for the lack of representation because they supply what the designers want. “These designers make their dress before the show, and if it’s made for straight-size models, then the organisers will provide straight-size models,” she says. “If this dress doesn’t look good on the models nobody will want to buy the clothes. So for flexibility to even come about, these designers should be the ones making the moves.” 

Okoh Naomi Chidinma, a size eight Nigerian model who is represented by an agency abroad, says that her agency has requested her to lose a lot of weight that will get her to the prime goal of size four or six. “I’ve been asked to lose so much weight to a size four or six which is very unfair. I look forward to being one of the first models to break that stereotype. Nonetheless, I think the industry is becoming increasingly inclusive and I like that for us.” 

Despite deeming it tedious to fulfil the international criteria of the expected body size of a runway model, Naomi still plans on working on her figure. “Generally, I’m from the Nigerian market. I have a high order here but who wants to limit themselves to just one country?” she says.  “I am still working on my body so I can travel abroad and complete my success story.”

Chidinma’s desire to get to a size four brings us back to why size exclusion is heavily criticised in the fashion industry.  An article by a former Vogue Editor, Kristie Clement, published in The Guardian, exposes the terror models suffer to make sure they can still fit in a designer’s dress. Often, they resort to starving themselves to the point they have to be hospitalised or eat toilet paper to deal with hunger.

A country blessed with rich cultural diversity ought to embody inclusion and heterogeneity in our art, and the runway is no exception. As Christina Mallon, the chief brand officer at Open Style Lab, remarked, “Fashion and beauty and the runway create culture, and we need to create a culture that’s truly inclusive.”