Universal Standard’s design philosophy centres on a single production run across sizes 00 to 40, eliminating the traditional bifurcation between “standard” and “plus” lines. Founded in 2015 by Polina Veksler and Alexandra Waldman, the brand invests in extensive fit testing across their entire size spectrum, adjusting everything from dart placement to fabric weight. Their Fit Liberty program – allowing customers to exchange sizes free for a year as bodies change – addresses the reality that size fluctuation is normal.
Dilara Fındıkoğlu
Dilara Fındıkoğlu makes fashion for those who want their clothing to say something, and she’s never let conventional sizing dictate who gets to speak. The Turkish designer’s work pulls from religious imagery, occult symbolism, Victorian gothic, punk iconography, and traditional Turkish embroidery techniques – a maximalist collision of references that results in pieces equal parts provocation and craft. Influences range from Alejandro Jodorowsky to Vivienne Westwood to Black Sabbath, and it shows: her collections are narratives first, garments second. What makes her approach significant is that these elaborate, conceptually dense pieces appear on bodies across size ranges with identical creative integrity. Fındıkoğlu treats diverse casting not as representation theatre but as fundamental to her practice – because the ideas her clothes carry aren’t size-dependent. They just needed a designer willing to see that.
Nina Ricci
Nina Ricci has represented bold femininity since its founding, but under Harris Reed’s creative direction, that femininity has expanded to include more bodies than the house historically dressed. Reed’s gender-fluid, theatrically romantic vision, full of volume, deconstruction, and emotional storytelling naturally accommodates size diversity because the designs were never about restriction. The Maison’s language of allegories, symbols, and imaginative narratives translates across different frames without losing its artistic momentum. Reed’s expanded size offerings aren’t marketed separately or treated as a deviation from the main collection; they’re simply integrated into how Nina Ricci now operates. It’s a heritage house remembering that its founding principle working for “people whose sensitivity matches my own,” as Robert Ricci once said – shouldn’t have size limitations attached.