The fashion industry has just voted Paloma Elsesser "Model of the Year 2020". A message far from being trivial in terms of inclusiveness.
2021, the end of diktats? In recent years, fashion has gradually emancipated itself from the narrow standards that have long prevailed. The Models.com site has just elected Paloma Elsesser, Métis and round model, "Model of the year 2020". Should we see in it a message of hope that would (finally) portend a new vision of fashion?
Paloma Elsesser, model of the year 2020
" The unique face that defined the year as a whole. It is in these terms that the specialized site Models.com introduces its classification of the models of the year. In 2020, it is Paloma Elsesser who wins the stakes for the votes of the industry. Singular, it is undoubtedly. For several years now, this model categorized as "plus size" has been shaking up the dictates of fashion. “She represents several minorities at the same time, she represents brown skins, people with brown skin, and at the same time she is plus size. It is an outsider on several levels ", says Dinah Sultan, stylist at the Peclers Paris trend office. Last December, the young woman confided in the podcast Pretty Big Deal Ashley Graham on her willingness to make a difference: “I had never seen a girl dress the way I wanted to dress. (…) I want to provide an answer and represent all these identities ”. For Paloma Elsesser, mentalities are finally starting to change: "There is a change in the perception of what it is to be fat." " She hasn't been riding the trend of inclusiveness, adds the expert at Peclers. She’s someone who cut her teeth, she was one of the first models, along with Ashley Graham in the years 2013-2014, to really open the door to plus size ’’.
Where Paloma Elsesser stands out is in her personality and the less smooth image she conveys. "Where an Ashley Graham is a little more institutional, cleaner on her, Paloma has a more alternative side, she evolves in a very street environment, and in fact, she is less known to the general public", explains Dinah Sultan. But above all, the model embodies the new representations and the notion of commitment dear to the younger generations. His fights focus on current topics such as the fight against discrimination against black people through the Black Lives Matter movement, eating disorders and mental health. “She delivers her fights in a super natural way. When she talks about body acceptance, she poses nude for the cover of More or Less, when she wants to talk about her origins, she invites her brother and sister on the cover of i-D ", analyzes the trend hunter.
Read also: Is fashion becoming truly inclusive?
A strong message symbolizing a fashion revolution?
A few weeks before her victory, the model IMG Models revealed to her family, in tears, her cover for American Vogue titled " New Year, New World " ("New Year, New World"). A consecration in the world of modeling, but above all the illustration of a profound change taking place in the high spheres of fashion. For Dinah Sultan, this is a strong and impactful message in terms of diversity and inclusiveness. “When US Vogue puts a plus-size on the cover and headline like that, it has a really strong resonance. It means that we finally accept to open our eyes, that fashion is plural and inclusive, and that it is coming down from its pedestal. And that it is fashion that adapts to women today. " Plus-size models have long been relegated to fashion catalogs. It was difficult to get stylists and casting directors used to hiring a certain type of woman to think outside the box. “When Paloma started, there was no one else like her, especially among the plus size models”, explains Mina White, director of the agency IMG Models, at US Vogue January, for which the model is on the cover. “It was all an uphill battle. Paloma had to come and create his own category ”. Because model agencies also have their role to play in this “new world”. "They are the real architects of change, we must not forget, they are the ones who place the models", says Dinah Sultan. IMG Models was one of the first agencies to break down barriers and sign with plus-size, disabled, and transgender models.
"There was a start, an awareness in 2020", assures the expert at Peclers. “It was very soothing to see that for once fashion did not close its eyes, because it was often one of the rare industries to want to turn its back on problems to sell dreams. And there, there was finally a listening to the artistic directors and the big houses to breathe new life and take into account the fights of today ". In France, the change is more timid. "We can feel it a little more with small brands like Make My Lemonade, or at Etam Lingerie, but it is still discreet in the press and in major campaigns", Dinah Sultan analysis. For the stylist, inclusiveness does not depend only on brands, but also on the French. "It's also up to the consumer to change their outlook, because France still has a grossophobic history. The French have always been educated with the image of the Parisian and the French overall. French fashion is still sticking to the dream industry, so it's not yet won but things are moving ", she admits. "It will take a little longer, or not, because in just one year, we have shaken up decades of established practices." All that remains is to hope for a French fashion revolution in 2021.
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