Gianluca Russo’s ‘The Power of Plus” deals with body diversity in fashion

“It’s really exciting to return home and to my hometown library, and get to be around my former English teachers, Steve, all these people that had an impact on my life,” Russo said. “To be able to reintroduce myself and show who I am now and what I’ve accomplished is a big moment I’ve never thought about until it was happening.

“I never thought I would write a book and speak about it,” he added.

From pitching to researching and writing, “The Power of Plus” is the culmination of a three-year journey for Russo. The themes of the book date back further, to his immersion into the field of fashion journalism.

Fashion has a reputation for being ruthless and exclusionary. The same terms could be applied to its journalism. But as the industry began to seriously reconcile with inclusion and body diversity in the late 2010s, opportunities developed for young writers like Russo with an enthusiasm and commitment to shining a light on these issues.

“Fashion journalism, like Fashion Week, is grounded in exclusivity. A lot of people struggle. Even a great idea wasn’t enough. It’s more about why are you the one to bring something to the forefront,” he said. “What brought me to body diversity was that it felt so new, something I could directly connect to and offer a perspective.

“From 2010 to, really, 2015 there was an undeniable amount of momentum around body diversity, and I came into it at a perfect time,” Russo said. “It was a matter of fearlessly being ready for conversation, even when it was difficult.”

As Russo points out, that conversation is about more than fashion. It connects to larger societal themes of respect for marginalized people and their voices. Through “The Power of Plus” and his co-founded digital community of the same name, Russo is seeking to do his part to create spaces for its stakeholders to engage and further that dialogue.

“This conversation is really relevant to a lot of us, it’s really a kind of community issue; it has value and is more than a passing trend in society,” Russo said. “I try to include so many different voices – different races, genders, social statuses – to show how important this is and how it can change lives.

“In 2015, 2016 fashion was so closed off (to these topics),” he added. “Now you’re seeing more of a spectrum of races, more rooms and spaces for people to enter in and allow for more perspectives to be shared.”

Russo sees improvement when it comes to embracing diversity. But as he researched and interviewed plus-size models and designers for his book, Russo found that for all the advances that have been made, more change is still necessary.

“What surprised me most was how unchanged certain parts of the fashion industry are,” he said. “There’s a lot of practices that were huge issues in the ’90s that still happen today.

“I open the book by talking about Emme, the first plus-size model,” Russo continued. “She had some really jarring, terrible experiences that she had to come out from. Emme blazed a trail, but there are still so many in the same position she was in for years. Her story showed just how much work is left to be done.”

The major component in true inclusivity isn’t just offering more clothing options or ending harmful rhetoric. Consistent good-faith engagement and trust-building from designers and companies with previously shunned communities is necessary.

Russo sees certain designers who have successfully accomplished this. He singles out 2007 “Project Runway” winner Christian Siriano for making diversity the norm in his design. Siriano was interviewed for “The Power of Plus” and his inclusion allowed Russo the opportunity to engage with the figure who opened his eyes to fashion and its many possibilities.

“It’s about who is being catered to: an elite group where being very slim and wealthy is the norm; 68 percent of American women are deemed plus-sized and they’re conditioned to not be a part of it,” Russo said. “Companies and designers need to bridge that gap and accept the customer and show them that they’re welcome. How many women have seen something and said, ‘I love that, but I could never wear that?’ They’ve never seen someone who looks like them feel truly embraced.

“Christian Siriano constantly shows diverse body types and has normalized it, so he doesn’t have to scream it from the rooftops,” Russo said. “Not many designers do it as well as him. One of my, kind of, first memories in life was him winning ‘Project Runway.’ Having a conversation with him about this for the book felt full circle for me.”