Technically, Fashion Week exists to serve those working in the fashion industry—buyers looking for new merchandise for their stores, magazine editors reporting on the trends, stylists pulling for their clients’ next big red carpet, and so on. But with every passing year, its audience grows wider. Through live stream videos and Instagram Stories and other social sharing, there are more eyes on the shows than ever. And that has brought about an increased scrutiny about what we see on the runway.

In its seasonal Diversity Report, The Fashion Spot found that the Spring 2019 shows (which happened last September), were the most diverse ever in terms of ethnicity, size, gender identity, and age of models on the runway. The news earned congratulatory headlines—it was a welcome improvement after declining numbers in past years. Still, if you look closer, you start to notice that the same few players come up over and over again as leaders on this front: the Chromats, the Christian Sirianos, the young designers building their brands on inclusivity. And while they are sparking change, industry insiders say it’s only the tip of the iceberg for what representation should really look like in fashion.

“It’s only really been in the last few years that I’ve seen any meaningful diversity and inclusion [on the runway] that actually made me feel it reflects me and my friends, beyond just tokenism,” says designer and blogger Nicolette Mason, who’s been attending Fashion Week for over a decade. She hopes for the day where these moments of inclusivity on the runway won’t spark headlines—they’ll just be the norm: “Runways, just like our media, should reflect our world.”

Leomie Anderson, a model who has walked for brands like Savage x Fenty, Jeremy Scott, and Christian Cowan, agrees: “You can’t just let these moments be stand-alone—we have to keep building on them. We should keep celebrating diverse representation as it happens and keep fighting for it, as well.”

From the first plus-size supermodel to some of the most vocal advocates for inclusivity in the fashion industry, nine individuals explain what it means to have the runway reflect real life. Even though their names are established and respected, their accounts go to show how memorable authentic moments of representation can be for those who don’t fit the narrow definition of beauty that dominated this space for so long.

Gina Marinelli is a writer and editor based in New York. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @ginaalilbit.

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