F*ck Fatphobia! How We're Bringing Body Inclusion to Montreal Fashion Week

What happens when you stop asking whether everyone fits into fashion and start asking whether fashion was ever designed to fit everyone?

On September 27, we’re going to find out.

This year, for Montreal Fashion Week, we’re co-producing IN/EX/CLUSIVE, a full afternoon and evening of fashion, art, exhibitions, vendors, and lively conversations about what inclusion in fashion actually looks like. We’re producing this event in collaboration with Montreal architect, inclusive design consultant, artist, AND my partner Elio Choquette. It’s been officially selected as part of the 2026 Montreal Fashion Week lineup, and we’re pretty damn excited about it.

Because we all know this: the fashion world is anything but inclusive. For decades, mainstream fashion has treated certain bodies as the default and everyone else as a special category to be accommodated, if they’re accommodated at all. Bigger bodies, disabled bodies, trans bodies, racialized bodies, aging bodies, bodies of color, and bodies that simply don’t conform to whatever the industry has decided is “desirable” that year have spent a lot of time being told, directly or indirectly, that fashion isn’t really for them.

We think it’s time to ask a different question. What would fashion look like if inclusion wasn’t something added at the end, but something built in from the beginning?

That’s what IN/EX/CLUSIVE is about.

On Sunday, September 27, Articule will become a space for pop-up exhibitions, inclusive fashion and art vendors, three bilingual roundtables, artist presentations, mini-consultations, and an evening meet-and-greet with food and drinks. More importantly, it will bring together designers, artists, organizers, performers, and curators, featuring talks by community builders who are already doing the work of making fashion and creative spaces more inclusive.

Our eight speakers work directly in fashion, architecture, art, performance, disability advocacy, community organizing, curation, and event production. They’ll be talking about what inclusion actually looks like when you have to build it into a business, fight for it within your community, create it through art, or make space for bodies that the industry has historically ignored.

We’ll talk about size inclusivity and what it really takes to build it into a fashion business. We’ll talk about fat liberation and community organizing, led by people doing that work within their own communities. And we’ll talk about the body as artistry, and what happens when representation is created by and for the people being represented.

There will be fashion. There will be art. There will be some very good conversations. There will probably be a few moments where someone says something that makes us rethink what we thought we knew. And there will be a lot of beautiful diverse bodies. Because our bodies are, and always will be, political. 

We can’t wait to host you at IN/EX/CLUSIVE. Where, rather than waiting for mainstream fashion to decide whether there’s room for us, we decided to make our own room.

A Collaboration I’m So Excited About

There’s another reason this project feels especially exciting to me: I get to build it with Elio Choquette, my incredible partner of three years. Elio (they/them) is a trans Montreal-based architect, inclusive design consultant, artist, and researcher whose work often asks a deceptively simple question: who are our spaces actually designed for? 

Their ongoing photography art project, Here We Will Be, explores queer histories through the spaces where those histories happened and is deeply interested in the memories that get left behind when queer spaces disappear. A big part of the project is also about making room for stories beyond the usual narrative of queer history, especially focusing on queer joy. 

As a trans architect and disabled individual, their architectural designs and consultation career ask, “Who are spaces made for?” It asks questions about how design changes and supports various bodies, and who often gets left out of consideration. You can see why our work keeps finding each other.

For most of our relationship, Elio and I have built our work in parallel rather than together. We’ve travelled to conferences together, spoken about many of the same issues, and somehow kept ending up on the same stages while approaching those questions from very different backgrounds and disciplines.

We’ve both spoken at conferences like Moving Trans History Forward at the University of Victoria, the Wildthinx design conference in Salzburg, Austria, and the Fat Liberation Convention in Calgary. Every time, we came away having had conversations that felt strangely familiar, but from completely different angles.

IN/EX/CLUSIVE is the first time we’re really bringing those perspectives into the same room. (Can we say power couple?!) Because IN/EX/CLUSIVE asks the questions that both Elio and I are always asking: Who gets to belong here? Who gets represented and supported? Whose body gets considered from the beginning, rather than added in later as an afterthought?

IN/EX/CLUSIVE is the beginning of what we hope is a long-term collective we’re building with other designers, artists, and creators who are already putting inclusion at the centre of their work. Our goal is to create space for conversations and work that often get pushed to the edges of mainstream fashion and design, and then keep making those spaces bigger.

Why Body Inclusivity in Fashion Matters More Than Ever

Fashion loves to talk about inclusion. Runways, campaigns, brand websites, and press releases are full of promises about celebrating every body. But look at who is actually getting through the door.

The fashion industry still treats a very narrow range of bodies as the default, while everyone else is asked to wait for representation, squeeze into whatever exists, or be grateful for the occasional extended size. That matters because fashion isn’t just about clothes. It shapes who we see as belonging, whose bodies are considered worthy of attention, and who gets to participate in culture without having to apologize for taking up space.

And just when we should be making more room, representation on some of the world’s biggest runways is actually moving backwards. The number of plus-size models on Fashion Week runways isn’t growing. It’s shrinking.

According to Vogue Business’s annual Body Inclusivity Report, just 7% of the looks shown at London Fashion Week in 2025 were on models categorized as “medium” or “plus” sized. That was down six percentage points from the year before. And London is considered the most body-inclusive of the major Fashion Weeks. In most other fashion capitals, representation has sat below 3% for years. Out of 198 shows in 2025, only 12 included plus-size clothing at all.

The same report also found that 48% of surveyed consumers said they feel pressure to lose weight in order to feel fashionable, and 63% of those respondents pointed to difficulties finding their size when shopping as a source of that pressure. Ugh.

So when we talk about “inclusion,” we’re not talking about a problem that has already been solved. We’re talking about an industry where the overwhelming majority of bodies are still missing from the runway.

Why Inclusivity Matters to Origami Customs

For me, this is personal. I’m queer, trans, and disabled. Like many of you, I spent my life hearing the same things over and over again. Being told that everything would be better if we just lost weight or presented in an “acceptable” way. Having health concerns dismissed because of our bodies. Being made to feel like our bodies are somehow evidence of a personal failure. 

The standards we’re expected to fit into didn’t appear out of nowhere. They’ve been shaped by histories of racism, colonialism, ableism, and rigid gender norms that have determined which bodies are considered desirable, healthy, and worthy of being seen. Fashion didn’t invent those systems, but it has long helped turn them into something we can see, wear, and participate in. 

As current wellness culture gets repackaged and sold back to us as morality, bodies that fall outside the narrowest version of “healthy” or “desirable” are once again being treated as problems to fix. The message may come wrapped in prettier packaging, but the underlying idea is familiar: make yourself smaller, fitter, younger, more able-bodied, more conventionally feminine or masculine, and maybe you’ll finally earn the right to feel comfortable in your own skin. Screw that.

That’s why I built Origami Customs around designing for bodies that the fashion industry routinely treats as problems to solve: bodies that don’t fit its assumptions about size, gender, ability, or shape. When I look around my community, I see such beautiful, wonderful, powerful bodies. And if some of us are consistently underrepresented in these spaces, the answer isn’t to wait patiently for someone else to invite us in. We have to build the room ourselves.

Participate in IN/EXCLUSIVE

All that to say, we want you and your amazing body to join us at Montreal Fashion Week in a space that is MADE FOR YOU!

When: Sunday, September 27, 2026, 2-8 PM 

Where: Articule, 6282 Rue St-Hubert, Montréal

What to Expect: 

IN/EX/CLUSIVE will be taking over Articule, an open-access, artist-run centre dedicated to presenting a broad range of contemporary art practices. The afternoon and evening will unfold in three parts, bringing together exhibitions, fashion, art, conversation, and community.

2:00 PM- Opening | Exhibition + Pop-up 

3:30 PM- Welcome 

4:00 PM- Roundtables + Presentations

5:00 PM- Raffle Prizes

6:30 PM- Closing Words + Acknowledgments

7:00 PM- Meet & Greet with the Artists

8:00 PM- Closing | Exhibition + Pop-up

First: Explore

We’ll kick things off with a pop-up exhibition featuring inclusive fashion and art, along with mini-consultations where you can get up close with the people and projects behind the work. Local vendors will also be selling inclusive, locally made fashion and art.

Then: Listen and question

Three bilingual roundtables and short artist presentations, facilitated by Elio and Rae, will bring designers, artists, organizers, and other industry leaders together to talk about what inclusion actually looks like in practice. We’ll also feature video presentations from artists including Amanda Lickers and Sky Cubacub, founder of Rebirth Garments.

Finally: Hang out

We’ll wrap up with an evening meet-and-greet and 5 à 7, with food, snacks, and drinks. It’s a chance to meet the people behind the work, continue the conversations, and spend some time together outside the formal programming.

Speaking Panelists 

8 speakers are joining us across three panels, each moderated by Elio or me. We will have three talks:

Inclusive From Within: Inside the Fashion Industry & Body Inclusivity looks at what it actually takes to build size inclusivity into a fashion business, not bolt it on after.

By Us, For Us, With Us: Fat Liberation & Community Organizing centers the organizers doing this work from inside their own communities.

The Body as Artistry: Between Body Neutrality, Empowerment & Representation brings in artists and curators working through what representation means when it's made by and for the people it represents.

Panellists come from the fashion industry, architecture, art, community organizing, performance, curation, and event production, including the founders of locally produced clothing lines Selfish Swimwear, Boutique Lustre, and Maison Komandō. Keep an eye on our mailer and Instagram as we highlight each speaker over the coming weeks!

1) Murielle Bien-Aimé, founder and artistic director at Maison Komandō, an award-winning brand of inclusive underwear and lifestyle products focused on sustainability, self-expression, and redefining women’s relationship with their bodies

 2) Amanda Lickers, curator, designer, artist, and educator, whose work explores the interconnection between territorial sovereignty and bodily sovereignty

 3) Bawè Lambert (Envy the Clown), a performance and drag artist and photographer

4) Naomie Caron, General Manager of the Massimadi Foundation, which encourages and highlights the cultural contribution of Afro LGBTQ+ artists through multidisciplinary events, as well as owner and founder of Selfish Swimwear, made in Montreal. 

 5) Adania Reyes, artist, actor, model, and founder of Calgary’s Fat Fashion Fair

 6) Yasmine Wasfy, designer and founder of Boutique Lustre that makes inclusive and sustainable clothing

 7) Léo Gauthier, a disabled performance and dance artist whose work centres disabled bodies

 8) Rosie Bourgoisie, a disabled burlesque performer and community organizer.

Tickets for IN/EXCLUSIVE

Tickets are $10 right now for early bird pricing, but that price is going up soon! We're committed to keeping this event affordable through multi-tiered pricing, but we also know that people living at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities are often the ones priced out of spaces they helped build, and left out of conversations about their own experiences. 

BUY TICKETS FOR IN/EX/CLUSIVE

If cost is a barrier for you, use the pay-what-feels-comfortable option at checkout. No questions asked. 

Making It Accessible

Elio and I are both trans and disabled, so obviously accessibility is something we built into the event from the start. We want people with different bodies, abilities, and access needs to be able to participate fully. When you purchase your ticket, you’ll be able to request additional accommodations, and I’ll be onsite throughout the event to help with accessibility requests.

VENUE

Articule is located on the ground floor on Plaza St-Hubert in Rosemont. There are no stairs at the gallery, and to enter, the front door has a slope. There is one glass door to get into the gallery, which will be propped open during the event. Masks (KN-95) will be available at the door and strongly encouraged at all times.

SEATING

There will be multiple options for seating, including chairs with wide seats, with and without backrests, benches, and stools. Cushions will be available.

WASHROOM

There is one gender-neutral washroom in the gallery. There are grab bars and the toilet has a backrest. There is a children's-size changing table, and there will also be a privacy area for changing and breastfeeding, near but not directly inside the washroom.

QUIET SPACE

A quiet space with comfortable furniture, low light, earplugs, and fidget toys will be located at the back of the gallery.

FOOD & DRINKS

There will be free, clearly labelled food and non-alcoholic drink options served during the event. Please reach out if you have severe allergies we should be aware of.

LANGUAGE

The roundtables will alternate between French and English. ASL and LSQ interpretation will be available, as well as live captioning in French and English. Live whisper translation will also be available. Please reach out if you have specific linguistic accessibility needs!

GETTING THERE

Articule is near the bus routes 30 and 18, and is a 350 m walk from the Beaubien Metro station or a 700 m walk from the Rosemont Metro station (which has an elevator). We will offer free pick-ups from either metro station, upon request by email (info.inexclusive@gmail.com). The STM also offers Paratransit service on demand. Please consult www.stm.info for more info!

There is paid on-street parking in the surrounding area, as well as a couple of no-permit free spots. Unfortunately, there is no designated accessible parking spot located near the gallery. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns; we will happily work on finding solutions together!

Did we miss anything? Don't hesitate to reach out or comment here to tell us what else you want to see!

Help Us Build This

This is our first edition, and we're still looking for collaborators, sponsors, and raffle donations to make it happen! Contact us at info.inexclusive@gmail.com to get involved.

Supporting IN/EXCLUSIVE means backing a network of Montreal brands and organizers who don't usually get a platform like Fashion Week, and we're glad to return the favor: we're happy to offer consulting on making your business more size-inclusive, diverse, and accessible as in-kind sponsorship.

If you know other local businesses, designers, or food and beverage companies who'd want to be part of this, send them our way. We want IN/EXCLUSIVE to be a community event built on shared resources, and we're happy to trade in-kind for sponsorship or raffle prizes.

Follow along on Instagram - we'll be showcasing artists and dropping details, including some amazing raffle prizes, over the coming weeks.

See You There

We’re so excited to bring together this incredible mix of designers, artists, architects, organizers, performers, and advocates for an afternoon packed with things to see, do, and talk about. 

Explore exhibitions, discover local vendors, hear from artists, drop into mini-consultations, and join three bilingual roundtables tackling what inclusion actually looks like in practice. Most importantly, you’ll have the chance to meet the people doing this work and connect with others who care about changing the industry.

So come spend the afternoon with us! September 27 at Articule. We’ll see you there.

BUY TICKETS FOR IN/EX/CLUSIVE

*All photos from this article from Elio Choquette and the "Here We Will Be" Project