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Air New Zealand Fashion Week gets Plus Size Fashion

Sept. 20th - "Real-sized women" like Hamilton trainee midwife Jo Hart, pictured below, will strut the catwalk in new designs at Air New Zealand Fashion Week today.
Ms Hart will model for plus-sized fashion label The Carpenters Daughter (TCD), after auditioning for the role.
It is the first time fashions for larger women have been allowed at the Fashion Week, since most designer ranges stop at size 12 or 14, and models appearing at the show are size 8 or thinner.

Miss Hart said the modelling gig would take her outside her comfort zone, but she considered it was important for women to see plus-size models on the runway.
"I'm pretty confident anyway, and happy in myself, so I'm going to walk out there and smile," she said.
The average-sized Kiwi woman was between a size 14 and a size 16, said TCD owner and designer Caroline Mar.
"They wanted me to use models only up to size 20, because they thought when you get to a certain size, the clothing doesn't photograph well," Mar said.
"But I've broken the rules. It's my show, and they are my girls and it's a concrete floor so it is not going to break."
During the public show, before an audience of up to 500, 15 women ranging in size from 14 to 24 will model TCD's spring/summer range on the runway.

Jo Hart at work ( article & photo copyright Waikato Times )

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