The Body Issue: Chloe Rosolek on the Future of Inclusive Casting
For Hypebae’s The Body Issue, we speak to the casting director behind some of London’s most inclusive shows.
Chloe Rosolek, founder of CDR Casting, is responsible for some of the most inclusive catwalks and campaigns in fashion, working with our favorite emerging designers to create change.
For The Body Issue, she tells Hypebae how casting has changed since she first started, what GLP-1s did to the fashion industry and how, despite it all, she still has high hopes for the future of inclusivity, thanks to emerging designers like Karoline Vitto and Sinead O’Dwyer.
Read on for the full interview.
What can you tell me about the process of working with brands and being briefed? How does it typically come about?
It really depends on the brand. More often than not, when it comes to runway shows, most brands allocate very few looks for non-sample-size bodies; now, it’s often even less, if any at all.
When preparing for a show, I always ask whether there will be curve looks and try to advocate for them. In London, I have worked with several brands who do allocate authentically to non-sample-sized bodies, and one of my favourite brands I work with is Karoline Vitto, who does this so well.
When you first started in the industry, what sort of things were brands requesting in terms of casting? How has that changed?
When I first started assisting, the dominant trend was casting young and thin models. I never saw different body sizes represented and was often told, “That’s just how it is.”
Later, it felt like a positive shift was beginning. I started seeing curve models in spaces where I’d never seen them before. I remember coming across this Tim Walker editorial with curve model Molly Constable and being completely blown away by her. Not long after, we cast her in Dilara Findikoglu’s first runway show.
Was there a point where you noticed an influx in curve models being cast or requested by brands?
For a period, between 2016 and 2021, it genuinely felt like there was increasing visibility for different body types across runway shows, campaigns, and editorials. It felt like meaningful progress was happening, peaking in 2020. During that period, seeing women whose bodies looked more like mine changed the way I saw myself. For the first time, I felt represented.
Has the amount increased or decreased in the last few years?
It’s definitely decreased. I think the rise of GLP-1 medications exposed just how performative that progress really was. Fashion has swung back towards the ultra-thin ideal that dominated the industry when I was growing up, and we’re seeing that aesthetic become desirable again.
Has there been a point in the industry where you felt inclusivity and body diversity were genuinely changing for the better?
During the Savage X Fenty era, with women of every size walking the runway together, it genuinely felt exciting, empowering and culturally significant. For a brief moment, inclusivity wasn’t treated as a trend. It felt aspirational.
Do you currently feel represented in fashion? Why or why not?
I do feel represented by the emerging designers who are genuinely committed to creating change. Brands like Karoline Vitto, Ellie Misner, and Sinéad O’Dwyer consistently demonstrate what authentic inclusivity can look like.
When it comes to the major fashion houses, I don’t feel represented at all. Curve looks have almost disappeared, and when they do exist, it’s often just one look. Even if that look is beautifully executed, one isn’t enough. It feels sad.
What are the main things you feel need to change? And who does that responsibility sit with?
There simply needs to be more visibility for different body sizes. If fashion is a form of artistic expression, it’s incredibly limiting that the body, as the canvas, is still expected to exist within such a narrow standard in order to be considered high fashion.
Model agencies could do more to protect models from unhealthy weight loss pressures by establishing firm health boundaries, refusing unreasonable demands from brands, and providing better mental health support.
Creative directors also have an important role to play. I understand many of them answer to investors, often people who are saying no to extending size ranges, but if creative directors collectively pushed harder for change, I do believe they could create enough pressure that those conversations would become impossible to ignore.
On a structural level, the industry also needs unified sizing systems that eliminate segregated ‘plus-size’ collections and hidden ‘size taxes’. Extended sizing should exist as part of the main collection. This would make it more affordable for brands that want to make change but can’t due to budget limitations.
Stylists have a responsibility too. More stylists need to push their capabilities by dressing different body sizes in their work; if there aren’t designers you can pull from, get creative rather than accepting those limitations. I hear this so often when I try to cast curve models for editorial: that we can’t move forward because there aren’t enough looks for them.
