Style: Diversity on runway so hot right now

THE flash of grey on the runway was not on the material, nor the accessories featured in Thomas Puttick's show.

Australian model Madeline Stuart. Picture: JASON SZENES

THE flash of grey on the runway was not on the material, nor the accessories featured in Thomas Puttick's show.

As I flicked through the Mercedes-Benz Australian Fashion Week wire photographs, the grey hair of the model was what caught my attention.

A little bit of research with Dr Google revealed the Aussie designer used a number of models at different ages and stages (and shapes) in his Sydney show this week.

Puttick should be applauded for promoting this kind of diversity.

Diversity is becoming a fashion tool in its own right.

Madeline Stuart, who has Down syndrome, strutted straight into the hearts of the runway audience at New York Fashion Week in 2015 when she modelled a dress from FTL Moda's spring collection. Chinese model Deshun Wang, 80, went viral after striding along the catwalk, bare-chested, at Chinese Fashion Week last year.

Diversity on the runway

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An actor by trade, Wang said in interviews after the show he had been preparing to be an internet sensation for 60 years.

And he was a-okay with the 'hot grandpa' tag.

Puttick, then, is on point with the diversity of his models.

This move by the fashion industry to feature a number of different-looking models is a fantastic step forward.

From a practical viewpoint alone, viewers are able to see how different clothing works on different shapes, and how the material drapes across those of us a little larger than a size six and not with the legs of a giraffe.

It is a fashion trend that I hope becomes as indispensable as the little black dress.

Originally published as Style: Diversity on runway so hot right now