Valentino is being praised for its latest runway full of “normal” bodies

More of this, please.

Runways and fashion shows may seem like some of the most glamorous things in the world, but the culture behind the models used has been criticised a lot in recent years for being unrealistic. Typically, the models we see strutting down the runway are thin and tall, the beauty standard we've been conditioned into believing is the best one for decades. But this season, Valentino finally said enough is enough and is stepping away from this. The luxury brand's creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli has been upfront about his fight for diversity and representation when it comes to fashion and on runways in particular. His SS19 Haute Couture show was praised at the time for its focus on including more models of colour, and this season he's back and getting more praise than ever. The Valentino Haute Couture SS22 had models of all shapes and sizes, with normal body types being the norm on this runway, a refreshing sight to see. On the runway, one house model is used to create proportions for designs that are intended to fit every model there. For this show, ten house models were used, all with different body proportions. With normal bodies, diverse races and gender diversity, it wasn't the only focus of the show with ageism in fashion also tackled as he had models of an older age demographic walk the runway too. "In couture you never see these bodies,' the creative director told Vogue. The Italian fashion designer also said he wants to "keep the codes but change the value." With praise over this runway, one person wrote: "Valentino won fashion week i don't want to hear anything else." Another said: "gorgeous gorgeous girls wear valentino couture."