Has the Fashion Industry abandoned Body Positivity?

“From the moment we became aware of our bodies, we’ve been told that we need to be thin. Body image isn’t just a fashion issue; it’s a psychological one. Eve Hermansson-Webb, Senior Clinical Psychologist at Eating Disorder Therapy Aotearoa, sees the effects daily.” (O’Rielly, 2026).

I was recently interviewed for an article in Remix Magazine (New Zealand’s leading fashion publication) exploring a question many of us have been quietly asking: has fashion’s inclusivity movement been abandoned? Over the past decade, we saw what looked like meaningful progress: broader size representation, diverse casting, and the language of “body positivity” entering mainstream campaigns. For a time, it seemed as though the industry might genuinely be shifting. But cultural trends are rarely linear.

In the article, journalist Rosa-Lee O'Reilly examines how unattainable thinness appears to be resurfacing as the dominant ideal. The piece highlights the work of filmmakers Julia Parnell and Evelyn Ebrey, whose docu-series Cutting the Curve looks at what real inclusion requires, and what happens when it fades.

As a clinical psychologist specialising in eating disorder treatment, I see the downstream effects of these industry shifts. Fashion doesn’t just reflect culture; it actively shapes it. When thinness is positioned as aspirational, disciplined, glamorous, and morally superior, people absorb those messages long before they consciously critique them.

I see the impact in the therapy room every week:

• Clients caught in cycles of guilt and deprivation because shrinking feels like a prerequisite for acceptance, visibility, and belonging.

• People in larger bodies unable to find clothing that feels comfortable, safe, or beautiful - absorbing the message that style, confidence, and glamour are reserved for smaller frames.

• Social media feeds saturated with glossy industry images that quietly train us in what is “post-worthy” and what the algorithm rewards.

• The pervasive myth that thinness is synonymous with health, happiness, success, confidence, and loveability.

If you’re interested in how fashion, media, and cultural ideals shape our relationship with our bodies, I encourage you to read the full article in Remix Magazine. Conversations like this matter; not because trends dictate our worth, but because they influence the environments we’re trying to recover in.

Read the full article HERE.