Last night saw the launch of All Walks Beyond the Catwalk – an initiative to expand upon the imagery coming out of the heart of London Fashion Week, by using a wider range of professional models in size and age.

It’s timely! And many agree that the resurgence of an 80’s aesthetic has precipitated a desire to embrace individuality over uniformity on the catwalk.

Hardcore fashion insiders may have been recruited for the official Downing Street reception, but they were at the Portico Rooms in spirit. Guests roamed amongst life size photographic images of 8 women aged between 18-65 size range 8-16 with endorsements from Sarah Brown, Giles Deacon, Alexander Schulman, Rankin and Twiggy to name a few.

Shot by award winning photographer Kayt Jones for the pre fall issue of i-D Magazine, curvy and slender models, young and old, appeared in outfits from the forthcoming collections of some of the UK’s leading emerging talent, to deliver a positive comment on the industry’s power to influence the way women feel about their bodies, as well as fashion.

“It’s been really refreshing to make and see fashion on a variety of body shapes,” said William Tempest, showing alongside Georgia Hardinge, Mark Fast, Hannah Marshall, David Koma, Alexandra Groover, David Koma and Cooperative Designs, “I would love my model Laura (a UK size 14/16) to appear on my catwalk but sadly she is in Milan, I really hope we start to start to see a more diverse range of sizes in our industry.”

Working with designers at the start of their careers to introduce a shift in thinking for the future, is as crucial as celebrating diversity and individuality right now. It’s something our industry finds hard to do, given that the ready-to-wear process requires the model be slotted in at the end of the sequence like a non-variable component in a production line.

Founders Debra Bourne, Erin O’Connor, Susan Ringwood: chief exec of the charity Beat and myself understand those pressures. That’s why ‘All Walks,’ is a step in the right direction.

Report by Caryn Franklin

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