Students design clothing line to promote positive body image.

Heels click confidently on the cement paths of Oregon State University. Laughter fills the air as the women wearing them banter. They walk with energy and attitude. Each step is a chance to display both their personalities and their clothes. They strut down the walkway as if they were on a runway.

Soon, they will be.

Models Alex Sisca, Jessie Jones and Sarah Moore will walk the runway at the Oregon State Fashion Show on May 20, displaying designer Mylisa Krueger’s

plus-size clothing line. 

Krueger was inspired to create a plus-size line after shopping in  plus-size sections and discovering her choices were more limited than in other sizes. According to Krueger, this can be a barrier to positive body images, as women can’t wear what they find attractive.

“There is such a smaller selection,” Krueger said. “I want to focus on things that are cute trends and I want to bring them to a plus-size audience.”

While Krueger does believe some brands are creating a plus-size inclusive fashion experience, she doesn’t see fashion as a whole striving towards inclusivity.

“So much of the fashion world is about having a look. Fashion can be really not body positive,” Krueger said. 

Krueger believes plus-size collections and media representation is a great way to inspire body positivity.

“The more that people can see people like themselves, the more comfortable they’ll be,” Krueger said.

Jones, a model for the collection, does not feel plus-size women are represented accurately by the media.

“It makes me upset that some of the plus-size models we see on magazines aren’t really plus size,” Jones said. “There’s lot of people who don’t feel comfortable in their skin because of those people on Instagram or in the magazines.”

Body-image issues consist of people fixating on a negative view of themselves and feeling bad about how they look, according to Brett Vicario, a psychologist at OSU counseling and psychological services.

“There are tendencies to focus on what we don’t like about ourselves,” Vicario said. 

Moore, another model for the collection, believes body-image issues are very common as a result of the lack of accurate media representation. Moore enjoys seeing women who look like her.

“It gets exciting to see another woman that looks like me in the media because it’s not common,” Moore said.

According to Vicario, when only one type of body is shown in the media, it creates biased views of what women should look like. Representing plus-size women in fashion promotes positive body image. 

“Trying to have conversations with people who they perceive to be empathetic and non-judgemental and educating about the societal body image can help,” Vicario said.

According to Vicario, body representation in fashion is a step in the right direction for promoting positive body image.

“Anything that promotes validation of our bodies and validation of different sizes are all good things,” Vicario said. 

Krueger’s models are excited to represent plus-size women in the fashion show. One model, Sisca, had wanted to participate in the show when considering OSU.

“I saw the fashion show when I was deciding to come here and thought, maybe I’d be cool enough to do this,” Sisca said. “And then I thought no one was going to do a line for someone like me. It’s great.”

Krueger is planning on continuing to work on plus-size clothes, and will have another line for next year’s show as well. 

“Currently my models are very similar, and I would love to get a wider variety for next year,” Krueger said. 

The Oregon State Fashion Show will be taking place at 8 p.m. on May 20 at the Student Experience Center Plaza on OSU’s campus. For more information, visit the Facebook page entitled “OSU Spring Fashion Show.”