Fashion is an industry that is having a hard time achieving inclusivity—with only 1.7% of last season’s fashion shows featuring plus-size models. It’s an industry where models that deviate from the “norm” are sprinkled in, so that brands can squeeze into “diversity” with otherwise very homogenous catwalks and campaigns. At the pinnacle of this homogeneity lies swimwear, with its infamous objectification of “swimwear models”— only allowing the skinniest models, defined by the male gaze and an unrealistic standard of beauty, to be seen in this genre of apparel. Becca McCharen-Tran, designer of swimwear brand Chromat, is fearless in her deviance as she smashes through this glass of exclusivity and redefines the image of people in swimwear.
At this year’s Spring/Summer 2020 fashion show, McCharen-Tran celebrated 10 years of Chromat—not by reminiscing the past but by using the past to propel into the future. The show started off with the PA announcement of an airplane, telling us we would begin a departure into 10 years of Chromat and to “sit back and relax” as we flew with Chromat Airlines. The flight simulation represented the embarking of a journey into the future to reach a destination that would promptly become the present: a new reality. With the one-way flight initializing the show, there would be no return—there would be no moment thereafter unaffected by the show and what it represented.
McCharen-Tran electrified the catwalk with her bright reds, blues, greens and white. The bright colors were accompanied by geometric cutouts and caging, and even LED light strips on some suits that highlighted powerful structures and silhouettes. Using techniques such as 3-D printing and up-cycled fabrics, Chromat paints a reality where garment sustainability and innovation can go hand-in-hand. But more than just objects of clothing to be admired, each style was given life through its wearer.
Devin-Norelle, a nonbinary, transmasculine model was the first masculine of center person to walk for Chromat. Tess Holliday, model and fat positivity advocate, commanded the runway with a dress emblazoned with the phrase “sample size”—boldly challenging the one-size-only fit of fashion models. Honoring motherhood in a beautiful celebration of life, Ji Young walked down the runway holding her toddler daughter’s hand while Bianca Cook walked down seven months pregnant. Ericka Hart, a breast cancer survivor, showed off her double mastectomy, wearing protruding white arm cages—like the wings of a modern angel.
Traditional fashion brands use the same sample size shape and image of a model in order to have viewers focus more on their clothes than the models, but Chromat modernizes fashion—not as a commodity to be bought but as an enhancement of each unique wearer’s identity. Why are fashion brands focusing on clothing as objects, using models as mannequins, when their customers are vibrant, authentic individuals? Chromat does not use inclusivity as bait, as a headline; they are simply inclusive because that is their norm. Chromat views fashion as a celebration of one’s identity and to feature only one identity would be bland, limiting, and a rejection of true beauty.
Rapper Rico Nasty ended the show with a riveting performance. An iconic and powerful female rapper, Rico commanded the floor with her high ponytail, sleek one-piece, caged skirt, and platform shoes. As she rapped “I’m a poppin’ ass bitch let me remind ya”, her outfit, her badass movement, and her talent fused into a singular entity—finalizing the show with the emphasis that clothes are not what makes it fashion, but the person underneath that defines fashion.
Check out the gallery below for highlights from the SS20 Collection (images via Vogue):
