A government backed proposal saying that fashion students will be obliged to use size 18 mannequins is to be unveiled next month.  With more student fashion news, Young Academic today takes a look into the initiative which aims to force designers to remember the average British woman is a size 16-18.

Fashion trio and founders of the All Walks campaign, Erin O’Connor, Caryn Franklin and Debra Bourne, came up with the idea that they hope will banish fashion’s obsession with youth, perfection and size zero.

Currently all fashion colleges train exclusively on size 8-10 dummies but the All Walks founders hope to change this with the launch of their initiative at Edinburgh College of Art.  Home to the All Walks Centre for Diversity, the university will be the first institute to promote the new approach during Graduate Fashion Week on 7 June.  The forum will be attended by Government Minister for Equalities and Liberal Democrats Body Confidence Campaign founder, Lynn Featherstone.

She says “Too many people feel pressured to focus their energies on how they look. I want to shine a light on initiatives that celebrate a range of body images as diverse as the society we live in.”

The Arts University College Bournemouth and Southampton Solent University have recently incorporated body-shape projects promoting diversity in the fashion industry to their courses.  More colleges and universities across the country are expected to follow suit.

With the constant struggle for a fight against size zero in the fashion industry, founders of the campaign hope it will bridge the divide between the industry and its critics.

With government backing, more fashion schools will be compelled to adopt the campaign and student fashion courses will celebrate a range of body images as diverse as the society we live in.

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Image courtesy of All Walks Beyond the Catwalk