There was a reason Karoline Vitto stood out at the spring/ summer ’24 shows in Milan. The Brazilian designer’s three-year-old has gained traction for its size-inclusive pieces, and her Milan debut last September sparked excitement in the city. Vitto exclusively uses curve models – an outlier in Italy, where size-diverse casting is scant – and her open hook designs and cut-outs elegantly emphasised her muses’ hips and folds, areas of women’s bodies that have historically been hidden.
“I’m very inspired by conversations I have with my mum, sister, aunties and friends … women in my life who taught me so much about body image without even realising it,” Vitto says, adding that she tries on outfits before putting them on the runway. “My work aims to pay homage to that, and also correct all the wrongs we were told about our bodies – what is beautiful and what isn’t.”
It’s hard to imagine Vitto’s brand, built on female experiences with body image, would be the same if