The fashion industry has become more inclusive of plus-size people over the years, but there's still a long, long way to go. Thankfully, designer Karoline Vitto's brand seeks to lead the charge with plus-size designs that highlight rolls, bulges, and curves as opposed to hiding them. We're not talking the typical bodycon or Spandex leggings here. Vitto actually plays with cool cutouts, cuffs, straps, and interestingly selected fabrics to ensure that every part of the body is on full display.
Her clothes are a raw, honest love letter to plus-size people in whatever shape they come in and a breath of fresh, uncontaminated air in the fashion industry in general.
Plus-size people are often encouraged to use fashion to hide their bodies as opposed to flatter them.
Karoline Vitto's designs turn that style convention on its head completely.
"Brazilian born, the London based designer finds beauty in the little rolls and fleshy parts of the female body that women are normally encouraged to hide," the official website reads. "Her starting point was a waist-clincher that she used to investigate how the body can be re-framed in different ways by accentuating or moving the flesh. Through elastics, premium jersey, and structured elements, Karoline’s garments and accessory pieces contour the body, accentuating the curves and celebrating the folds."
Check out this supercool green dress with an edgy brass thigh garter.
Thick thighs save lives, and this cool cuff celebrates them well. Vitto cuts and bends these by hand so they properly accentuate different rolls on the body. She has this one for thighs and also one for the back. This is kind of genius!
Vitto literally calls this a back roll amplifier.
How can you not stan? Rolls are part of the body, and people who have them are just as beautiful as people without them. With Vitto's designs, curves, rolls, and bulges aren't just embraced for the sake of diversity. She straight-up makes them the star of the whole stylish show!
Check out how the back roll amplifier is meant to look on an actual back roll, per this mannequin.
Peep the cotton that Vitto uses to make sure that her mannequins have rolls like the people she plans to dress. Yes to a designer who understands that a person with true design talent can dress any *body*. Are you even a real designer if you can't dress a plus-size body? The question is worth asking.
Now check out how the back roll amplifier looks on a real body.
How beautiful is this? This is how you show a true embrace of plus-size bodies and people. This is true inclusion and celebration. This is the future of fashion, to be honest. Karoline Vitto is so ahead of the curve, pun intended. Bow the heck DOWN.
Praise be for the visibility and elevation of real bodies.
People in the real world are not all skinny, nor should they be. Bodies come in different shapes and sizes, and they all deserve to be lifted up as the standard of beauty. No longer should the standard of beauty be represented by such limited body types. Fashion needs to reflect the world around us and the people in it as opposed to propagating a sizeist fantasy.
The collection has gotten so much love from people who appreciate a designer who respects the beauty of reality.
"[Redacted] yes. A beautiful, subtly powerful collection from one of the few upcoming designers thinking outside the sample-size box. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant," one person wrote.
This only highlights the fact that people want to see more of this and less of the "skinny as beauty" narrative. May the rest of the fashion industry rise to the occasion. It's so beyond time.
