First published December 20, 2018.
Models in lingerie and bodysuits walk The Real Catwalk through Times Square in December 2018 as passers-by take photos.
On 1 December 2018, more than 200 people of different sizes, ages, genders and backgrounds walked a pop-up runway in the middle of Times Square in New York. The event, called The Real Catwalk, was organised by model Khrystyana Kazakova, a former America's Next Top Model contestant, as a public answer to remarks by a Victoria's Secret executive about who belongs on a fashion runway. Its message was simple: the people seen in fashion images should look like the people who actually buy and wear the clothes.
Here is what happened, why it happened when it did, and what has changed in the fashion industry since.
The comments that sparked the show
In November 2018, shortly before the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show aired, Vogue published an interview with Ed Razek, chief marketing officer of L Brands, then the lingerie brand's parent company. Asked about casting, he suggested the show had not included transgender models because the show was "a fantasy," and he made similar remarks about plus-size models.
The backlash was immediate. Razek apologised, calling his comments insensitive and saying transgender women had auditioned for the show before. But for many people the interview summed up a long-running complaint: that the brand's televised spectacle presented one narrow body type as the definition of beauty.
Kazakova was among those who responded. Rather than write an angry post, she decided to stage a runway of her own in one of the busiest public spaces in the world. She told reporters it was not meant as an attack on Victoria's Secret, but as a celebration of people simply being themselves.
What happened in Times Square
According to Kazakova's own announcement, the show ran at midday on Saturday 1 December 2018 on the stretch of Broadway and Seventh Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets. Volunteers set up the runway space shortly beforehand, and spectators were invited to cheer the walkers on despite the cold.
The Real Catwalk had started small. Kazakova wrote that earlier editions had featured seven people and then 34. This time more than 200 participants took part, some travelling from Italy, London, Canada and several US states. Plus-size fashion brands including Woman Within, Swimsuits For All, Roaman's and King Size helped supply clothing, and the hashtags #therealcatwalk and #TogetherWeStrut gathered photos from the day.
Many walkers wore lingerie or swimwear, echoing the Victoria's Secret format, but organisers made clear that this was optional. Participants could walk in a coat, a cover-up or a hijab if they preferred. The show was opened by model and activist Jari Jones, and Kazakova's posts afterwards thanked the volunteers, make-up artists and photographers who made it possible.
(The Instagram post originally embedded here is no longer available.)
(The Instagram post originally embedded here is no longer available.)
(The Instagram post originally embedded here is no longer available.)
Why representation in fashion matters
Fashion imagery is one of the main places where ideas of an "ideal" body are formed and repeated. When the same narrow body type appears again and again in advertising, on runways and on social media, it quietly sets a standard most people cannot meet. Research on body image has linked heavy exposure to idealised images with greater body dissatisfaction, particularly among teenagers and young women, although people respond in different ways and the effects depend on many factors.
Body shaming, whether from classmates, family or strangers online, adds to that pressure. Many adults can still recall comments about their weight or shape from childhood. Events like The Real Catwalk do not erase those experiences, but they offer a visible counter-message: bodies that are rarely shown can be shown with confidence and joy.
It is also worth remembering what body positivity does and does not ask. It does not require anyone to love every part of themselves every day, or to put their body on public display. Many people find the related idea of body neutrality more realistic: treating your body with respect and care without making its appearance the centre of your worth.
What changed afterwards
The 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show turned out to be the last of its kind for several years. Its television audience had already fallen from about 9.2 million viewers in 2014 to around 3.2 million in 2018. Razek resigned in August 2019, and in November 2019 L Brands confirmed there would be no show that year, citing declining viewership.
The brand then spent several years trying to reposition itself, and when a runway show finally returned in October 2024, it featured a wider range of body types and included transgender models Valentina Sampaio and Alex Consani. Whether that change came from public pressure, falling sales, shifting tastes or all three is debated, but grassroots events like Kazakova's were part of a wider cultural shift that made the old formula look out of date.
Across the industry, size-inclusive casting is more common than it was in 2018, though critics note that progress is uneven from one season and one brand to the next.
Myths about body-positive campaigns
"It promotes unhealthy lifestyles." Showing a body is not the same as recommending a diet or habit. Health depends on many things that cannot be seen in a photo, and shame has not been shown to be an effective motivator for healthy change. Anyone with questions about their own health should talk to a doctor.
"It is only about plus-size women." The Real Catwalk welcomed people of all sizes, ages and genders, including people with scars, disabilities and stretch marks. The point was variety, not one alternative ideal.
"It is anti-brand." Kazakova described the show as a celebration rather than a protest against any company, and several fashion brands supported it.
How to support a healthier body image
- Curate your feeds: follow people whose bodies, ages and backgrounds look like the real world.
- Talk about what bodies can do, not just how they look, especially around children.
- Avoid commenting on other people's weight, even as a compliment.
- Notice when advertising is selling a feeling of inadequacy along with a product.
- If worries about weight or appearance are affecting eating, mood or daily life, reach out to a doctor or a qualified mental health professional.
A few hundred people on a cold Saturday in Times Square could not rewrite the fashion industry by themselves. What they did was show, in one of the most photographed places on Earth, how ordinary and how welcome a wider picture of beauty can be.
Sources: Khrystyana Kazakova's event announcement and photos on Instagram; Goalcast; Wikipedia: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show; originally shared via Truth Theory.
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