The boundary-pushing designer, whose work celebrates the fat rolls and bulges we’re conditioned to hide, joins the Milan Fashion Week schedule for SS24
For a moment it felt like things were changing. Curve models were landing on the catwalks of some of the biggest brands in the world, with models including Paloma Elsesser, Precious Lee, Jill Kortleve, Ashley Graham, and Alva Claire walking for the likes of Valentino, Gucci, Versace, Fendi, and more. And then they were gone, as the runway, in recent seasons, made a return to its narrow ideals of beauty, and the pendulum worryingly swung in the direction of a size zero comeback.
While the industry’s biggest houses are largely turning their back on body diversity within fashion, however, a new generation of young designers are picking up the mantle and proving there is beauty beyond sample size.
Among them is Karoline Vitto, who has spent the last five years spotlighting the fat rolls and fleshy bulges women have been conditioned to hide as features to be celebrated and cherished. Her sensual work – all cut-away slip dresses with metal frames, low-slung trousers, and slinky pencil skirts – caught the eye of Fashion East’s Lulu Kennedy, who welcomed Vitto into the fold for SS23.
Now, with two appearances on the Fashion East runway under her belt, the Brazilian designer and former Dazed 100er has just announced she will be showing on the SS24 Milan Fashion Week schedule, after scoring support from Dolce & Gabbana. Vitto follows in the footsteps of rising couturiers Miss Sohee and Tomo Koizumi, who both showed with the backing of the Italian brand across recent seasons.
Describing her woman as “powerful, and a little bit daunting”, she decked out her cast in a series of boxy jackets which folded across the chest like origami, slinky wrap skirts and mini kilts, and louche, loose-legged trousers, the waistlines of which rose up from the belly-button flashing depths of last season.Photography Cris Fragkou
“We’re all super excited here in the studio, because this represented the opportunity to work in avenues that hadn’t been possible for us before in terms of making and craft,” she explains. “I am especially looking forward to the full week of show prep we are going to have where we will have their full support for fittings and alterations. I think this will be a game-changer for us, as we need so many hands before the show solely working on fittings for multiple sizes.”
Unlike many brands who stick one curve model on the catwalk and call it diverse, Vitto is not about tokenism. For both her SS23 debut and her AW23 sophomore show, the designer opted not to cast anyone below a size 10, which, while important to her, created a lot of extra work that most brands do not have to consider. With support from D&G’s atelier in Milan – as well as access to its vast archive of fabrics – some of the pressure that comes with forging this new path in fashion will be alleviated, allowing Vitto to really focus on creativity.
Though the official SS24 MFW schedule has not yet landed, Vitto’s show will take place between September 19 and September 25. We can’t wait to see what she has in store.