Tom Ford says that the reason fashion models tend to be the same size is because that's the way it's always been.
As diversity in terms of body type and ethnicity increasingly becomes an important industry topic, the famed designer explained that every brand creates a sample collection to a standardised size. He stressed that a designer cannot be expected to create custom outfits for every model in any given catwalk show.
'There is a practical reason that most models are the same size, and that's called a sample collection,' he told WWD. 'You make a sample collection [according to] a standardised selection of measurements for models. One reason people show one size on a runway: I can't, eight hours before the show when I'm in a fitting and I decide to use a certain girl, custom make an outfit for her. My clothes are made. They are all made in the same size.'
Ford continued, highlighting the fact that there has always been a standard size that designers and fashion houses worked with.
'This is an industry thing. Whether we all decide to start making all of our clothes in the next size up, that's a different thing,' he said. 'But there is practicality, there's a reason models are a standard size. They have always been a standard size. Go to any era; models were a standard size, and the clothes were made in that size. And in today's world, models are a standard size. You make your collection and the girls come in, they put them on, if they don't fit the clothes, they don't get the job. I've used very curvy girls and thinner girls, but somehow they managed to fit in the clothes when they come in for their fitting.'
The designer goes on to say that he wasn't aware of discussion surrounding model size diversity, which he admits is perhaps 'foolish.'
'I didn't realise that it had become anything that would warrant quotes from me in an interview,' he said. 'So I'm fascinated.'
'I've done shoots with girls who are [not skinny]; if you hire somebody for a shoot, you have time to make her something,' he added. 'And I've certainly dressed women of different sizes. So it isn't that I'm obsessed with just a certain size girl. But the practicality of it is, you have a sample collection and it gets used in the showroom, it gets used on shoots, it gets used on the runway. It's all the same size and girls need to fit into that if they want to model.'
