Mark Fast, a fashion designer known for his tight-knit dresses used both typical, stick-thin models as well as curvier (also known as normal) sized women for his fashion show at London Fashion Week.

Hayley Morley, age 21 and a size 12, Laura Catterall, age 20 and a size 14 and Gwyneth Harrison, age 25 and a size 12-14 appeared on the catwalk during London Fashion Week. The decision behind using normal-sized women in his show was not a publicity stunt, nor was it politically motivated; it was because Fast and his team “wanted women to know they don’t have to be a size zero to wear a Mark Fast dress-curvier women can look even better in one.”

The decision to use these models sparked a controversy, even causing Fast’s creative designer and stylist to quit just 3 days before their London Fashion Week show. Luckily, two freelancers stepped up and helped assist in putting the show together.

I think that this is such a great step in the right direction and hope more designers in the future pick up on Fast’s mindset and accept the fact that not just size zero women are interested in fashion. The fashion industry has been criticized in recent years for glorifying thinness and parading extremely thin models. Psychologists and health experts have spoken out about the fashion industry, saying that they are pushing a dangerously slim image and that women and younger girls could (and have and will continue to) try to emulate the images they see being glorified in the fashion industry.

This isn’t the only thing Mark Fast has done to move past the thought that good fashion is only for very thin people; he has also been involved with the exhibition All Walks Beyond the Catwalk, which featured models from age 18 to 65 and from sizes 8 to 16.

Thank you Mark Fast for spreading the much-needed message of a woman’s body is just fine and beautiful the way it is and that women who do not fit into the fashion society’s very stubborn mindset can still look great in one of your dresses. I hope many other fashion designers adopt this way of thinking, and soon.