Photos: Vogue Runway Save Story Save this story Save Story Save this story Bullet bras and high-cut briefs at Tom Ford. Corsets and garter skirts at Balmain. Skirts-as-belts at Ashlyn. And sheer organza on almost every runway. These are just some of the lingerie-inspired, transparent or cinched pieces that flooded show collections this Spring/Summer 2027 season. But beyond the cyclical nature of sex appeal and its revolving role within fashion , this surge of skin brings something deeper into focus at a time plagued by shrinking bodies: the relationship between GLP-1s and the runway.
The conversation around weight loss medications such as GLP-1s can, at times, feel ubiquitous. GLP-1 sales hit $79 billion in 2025, per Morgan Stanley Research , and the global market is projected to reach $190 billion by 2035. A June 2026 report from the Consumer Goods Forum and Bain & Co. forecasts the use of GLP-1s to reach one in three Americans and one in eight Britons by 2030.
Against this backdrop, it is increasingly difficult not to see fashion trends through this lens. The visibility of skin, so-called “naked dressing”, bralettes, and contorting designs on the runway raise questions around correlation and causation. Are these trends in direct conversation with the rise in weight loss medications, as luxury customers strive to show off their new bodies? Or are they mere coincidence, made more visible by the current climate?
The shrinking of client bodies is clear, especially at the high fashion level, according to Paris-based fashion sourcer and luxury personal shopper Isabel Bazzani. “Couture houses have told me they’ve had to update client books they’ve held for years, because the body measurements on file no longer match,” she says. “Production is following suit, with larger sizes from luxury houses becoming more limited and smaller sizes being made in higher quantities.”
“Fashion is always a reflection of everything from cultural shifts to what’s going on in society, body ideals, attitudes toward the body, and how people choose to dress,” says Frida Tordhag, fashion analyst at trend analytics firm Heuritech. “It’s hard to generalize it. These body trends [have] always gone in waves, and we have seen more that women are using GLP-1s, so they might [dress] differently.”
For Tordhag, the relationship is tenuous. “From our perspective and from the data we have, we cannot see a straight correlation between [the rise of GLP-1s and runway trends],” she flags.
For others, it’s more nuanced. “We’re still [as a team] going through all the trends and trying to decode how this is playing out,” Krista Corrigan, senior retail analyst at retail intelligence platform EDITED, notes. She adds that confirming these correlations can be particularly tricky, though. “What could be a result of GLP-1s? Some of [these trends], of course. But we’re making an insinuation, because it’s difficult to exactly tie it back.”
Even so, she sees signs of their influence. “We definitely saw a couple of things that indicate to me the influence of GLP-1 and Ozempic showing up on the runway.”
One way this shift can present itself is through functional design. “While the headline narrative around GLP-1s usually centers on revealing, skin-baring fashion and bodycon fits, the real revolution is happening in how garments function,” Laura Yiannakou, womenswear senior strategist at trend forecaster WGSN, explains. “Around 40% of consumers [who use weight loss medications] prioritize…