Emma Chamberlain's First Clothing Line Only Offered Size Small, And 11 Other Times Celebs Were Called Out For Ignoring Size Inclusivity

These days, there are way more people in the spotlight who champion body diversity than there were 20 years ago. However, in the fashion brands that celebrities create and promote, the same issues remain — a lack of size inclusivity means that a lot of people are excluded from representation in advertising and the ability to actually wear the clothes.

But there's also another important difference — thanks to social media, people can call out celebs for creating or promoting brands that lack size inclusivity.

Here are 12 times celebrities were criticized for releasing or working with non-size inclusive brands:

1. Though Kim Kardashian and her clothing line Skims boast about "setting new standards by providing solutions for every body," her sister Khloé called her out for the "sliver" of fabric in the crotch area of her bodysuits.

On an episode of The Kardashians, Khloé said, "The vagina needs a little more fabric...[to make it] a little wider."

At the time, Kim made fun of Khloé "for having a bigger vagina than most," but she later debuted a new design that took her sister's criticism into account.

However, many fans weren't impressed by the sneak peeks Kim shared on her Instagram story, criticizing her for only now giving the area as much coverage as they felt the bodysuits should've had all along.

2. Kim Kardashian was also criticized over the ad campaign for Skims' "Fit Everybody" line. The promotional photo featured the founder alongside four former Victoria's Secret models — Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Candice Swanepoel, and Alessandra Ambrosio.

A lot of commenters called out the fact that, despite the line being called "Fit Everybody," there was little body diversity in the pictures.

Additionally, the sizing for many products only went from XXS–4XL, and underwire bras ranged 32A–44D.

3. The sizing of the overall Skims collection also received major backlash following a viral TikTok in 2021.

In her viral review, TikTok user @adriabarich tried on several pieces, but she was dissatisfied with the fit on all of them.

She said, "I thought Skims were supposed to make me look curvalicious...Not Winnie the Pooh wearing too small underwear."

She told BuzzFeed, "I was just like, what the heck, this is a $34 piece of shapewear that I ordered because I trusted the Kardashian name...And even though I ordered a size that should have fit me, I looked horrible."

She also said that the product images on the website are "very unrealistic, even though they are inclusive of different-sized people." 

She said, "They are very touched up, and that creates an unrealistic expectation for consumers who ultimately want to look like [Kim]."

In a follow-up video, she also called out the fact that there was little body diversity in the brand's promoted influencer partnerships, despite their tagline being "for every body."

4. When Kylie Jenner released her Kylie Swim line, many fans who purchased her products criticized the little coverage and support the swimsuits provided.

Several bad reviews went viral on TikTok, and users even found that the crotch area of the Kylie Swim swimsuits they bought only had 1.5 inches of coverage.

To many customers, this was a clue that the swimsuits had only been designed for a very specific body type.

5. Emma Chamberlain's High Key clothing line faced a lot of backlash because the items were only available in a size small.

Others called out the fact the lack of inclusive sizing could be harmful to the influencer's young audience.

The line also spawned several viral YouTube reviews that called out the lack of a size range.

On Instagram Live, she addressed the additional criticism the line received about its high cost, telling fans that she created the designs but didn't set the prices. However, she didn't address the sizing controversy.

6. When Beyoncé released the Flex Park swimwear capsule collection for Ivy Park, she was praised for having a diverse range of women models, but people wanted to see more body diversity for the men's clothes.

Here's what the ad looked like:

However, fans also called out the lack of size inclusivity for the models posing in menswear.

7. When Jameela Jamil — who founded the I Weigh community, which champions body inclusivity — guest-edited an issue of Style, many people expressed disappointment that hardly any of the clothes she modeled for the shoot came from size-inclusive brands.

In a statement, the actor said, "I understand your frustration, I hear it. And I can imagine that after waiting for so long to be remotely included you’re done waiting for anything other than perfection."

She continued, "Part of my job involves wearing high fashion, that’s how I manage to get into magazines to talk about the things I raise. So I’m gonna wear brands that fit me, that may not go all the way up to the size 32 that I wish all clothes went up to."

8. Jameela Jamil also faced criticism when she modeled for an Aerie campaign. She claimed it was "inclusive of everyone," but others pointed out that the brand lacked size inclusivity.

Here's what the ad looks like:

In response, she tweeted, "[I] shouldn’t have said everyone. I want to delete this tweet so much, but I would rather take the beating and have people learn from the mistake of the problematic use of the word, so we can all learn to be more careful. I hope all fashion serves us *all* better in future."

She continued, "Just sat down with some of the bosses at [Aerie] who assured me they are already working on becoming more and more inclusive in sizing. But please don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s also so cool to have blind, disabled, Black, Asian, gay, and sexual assault survivors repped too."

9. When Nadia Bartel posted an Instagram carousel to promote a new design from her activewear line, Henne, fans called out the lack of diversity in her promo shots.

Others called out the entire line's lack of size inclusivity.

In response, the model said, "Women here are sized from size 6 to size 12 but these aren’t models, these are our Henne employees and one women who has suffered from breast cancer and her sister who also has the BRCA gene mutation." However, this led to even more criticism.

10. Victoria Beckham told Grazia that her VB Body knit bodycon dresses look better "the curvier you are" and that it's "an old-fashioned attitude, wanting to be really thin."

However, despite her assertion that the dresses are "inclusive of body shape, of skin color, and of budget," they only go up to a size 14.

Writing for Woman and Home, body acceptance advocate, Mollie Quirk said, "VB Body seems to follow in the footsteps of Kim’s Skims and Lizzo’s Yitty, but doesn’t Victoria’s new career U-turn seem counterproductive? Spending a lifetime promoting thinness and then suddenly advocating 'curvy' bodies when they become fashionable or should I say profitable… but then backtracking by making and selling clothing that 'flatter' bodies only up to a UK size 18 (US14), when her clothing only goes up to a UK 16 (US12). It really doesn't seem all that inclusive to me."

She continued, "Regardless of profit, I feel this development is a brave move for her, but there’s still a long way to go. By creating shapewear and clothing that rarely goes beyond a UK size 18, she's still excluding a hell of a lot of people from her brand, and exclusion from fashion belongs back in the '90s along with that old CD player."

11. When Revolve was criticized for selling a sweatshirt bearing the words "being fat is not beautiful it's an excuse," Lena Dunham took credit for coming up with the statement.

On Instagram, she wrote, "Without consulting me or any of the women involved, [Revolve] presented the sweatshirts on thin white women, never thinking about the fact that difference and individuality is what gets you punished on the Internet, or that lack of diversity in representation is a huge part of the problem (in fact, the problem itself). As a result, I cannot support this collaboration or lend my name to it in any way."

People criticized her for thinking the phrase was appropriate to put on a piece of clothing in the first place.

Others called her out for her involvement and brought attention to the fact that the brand itself did not have an inclusive size range.

12. And finally, Lena Dunham also faced backlash for the "tightly edited" plus-size capsule collection she released with 11 Honoré because the size range only went from 12 to 26.

She told the New York Times, "Right now the only thing I’m doing is speaking about my own experience...So this clothing line is a direct response to my experience."

The line's size range was criticized because it still wasn't inclusive of people who are often excluded by other brands.

In response to the criticism of the line, 11 Honoré design director, Danielle Williams Eke, told HuffPost, "We took a lot of time perfecting the grade up to a size 26, which included multiple fittings on a range of women from size 12–26 with varying body shapes...Our ultimate goal is to dress as many women as possible, and we are completely open to expanding past size 26 in the future!"

Celebrity stylist Marcy Guevara-Prete told HuffPost, "When something is called inclusive and stops at 26, it excludes a large portion of the plus size community, and the most desperate for pieces like these, those over a size 26."

She also said that the actor's "quick foray into plus size fashion" demonstrated "her continued privilege in the industry and now the plus-size fashion industry."