With 67% Of American Women Being Plus-Size, Meet The Designer Fighting For Full-Size Fashion

New York Fashion Week has long been a stage for boundary-pushing visuals and creative, artistic ideas. This season, couture designer Renee Cafaro aims to redefine the stage by the very scales of fashion.

For Cafaro, whose Atelier designs have graced everyday celebrities from the Oscars red carpet to fan favorites from RuPaul’s Drag Race, this season isn’t just about clothes—it’s about rewriting the narrative of who fashion is designed for.

The average American woman is between a size 16 and 18, with 67% considered plus-size, which is defined as a size 14 or above. Yet representation and considerations in high fashion remain limited at best. How limited? According to the latest Vogue Business inclusivity report released in March 2025, only 24 of the 8703 runway looks.03%—would fit the average American woman.

Which is why Cafaro’s “Out Of Scale” collection, held in Chelsea, was more than a NYFW runway show and instead more of a cultural statement: luxury fashion needs to be aspirational to everyone, regardless of size.

A Mission Rooted In Inclusion & New York City

Renee Cafaro Atelier designs couture specifically for those with bigger bodies, offering sizes up to 5X while maintaining the craftsmanship, artistry, and made in the USA production values of traditional houses.

“My designs are made locally, by BIPOC artisans, using materials sourced in New York City – making every garment not only a luxury piece but also an investment in sustaining New York’s historic garment district,” Cafaro said. “Creating fair wage jobs in NYC is of paramount importance to me. Many try to paint the Garment District as dying out, but my team of skilled artisans and I are here to show that small business is still bustling in New York.”

Cafaro’s latest collection takes inspiration from today’s period of social and global unease as well as from internal personal reflections. The goal: channel the eccentricity and boldness of the 1980s and use them as an antidote to the suffocating pressures of modern life.

“In a time when governments are trying to strip us of individuality and demand us to be smaller, this art-forward collection insists on being larger than life,” she says. “This is my most inclusive and outlandish runway yet because I feel we must be our loudest when others want us to be quiet.”

What makes Cafaro unique is that she doesn’t just design looks for plus-size women—she designs from the perspective as one, ensuring that every garment is tested against the lived experiences of past challenges she has encountered when seeking fashion. This year’s runway featured musician Mary Lambert, Sports Illustrated model Velonika Pomee, and Project Runway veterans Jazzmine Carthon and Liris Crosse.

For Cafaro, building out a collection is just the beginning of a larger movement that redefines the standard beauty, celebrates body diversity, and proves that luxury couture can be both ethical in its production and inclusive in its designs.

From Politics to Couture

Before fashion, Cafaro made her mark in New York politics, advocating for the Garment District, equity, and fair labor practices. During the early days of the 2020 pandemic, she launched “Si Sew Puede,” a grassroots initiative that connected unemployed sewers with hospitals in desperate need of PPE. With $25,000 of her own money, she built a network that produced masks and gowns at a critical moment for thousands who needed them.

This spirit of purpose carried into her atelier, where she aligned with some of those same garment makers to build a complete design and manufacturing team to bring long-held designs to life. One standout is a patent-pending dress, engineered with built-in support for DDD+ cups and adaptable styling to eliminate the need for strapless bras.

“In 2023, Renee and her team broke ground during London Fashion Week. In 2024, she launched Transatlantic in New York and London, her first exclusive show for NYFW. This year, though, is her most impactful collection to date,” said Tiffany Anglim, Runway Director of Oxfoard Fashion Studio, Cafaro’s production partner.

Though still an independent label, Renee Cafaro Atelier provides solutions beyond simply showcasing bold silhouettes and artistic designs, but proves to making a larger point: fashion should not have a size limit or gender barriers.