Congratulations, are due to Ashley Nell Tipton on winning, Project Runway season 14. Ashley makes history as the first plus size designer to win with a plus-size collection. While the plus-size community is rejoicing in tandem with Ashley, as she has opened some new doors for plus sized models and fashion within the industry.

However, she has also been met with some negative comments and responses to her collection. Some people have gone as far to say that she won Project Runway for “political reasons”. Could this be true? Did Ashley win by default because she represents a demographic that the fashion industry at-large is trying to play nice with?

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I’ve toyed with this concept and I really believe there is at best a modicum of truth there. Many strides are being made to give plus-sized consumers more clothing options, but one area that has yet to be addressed are plus-sized designers and models. Ashley conveniently fills that void and Project Runway is a very public media outlet in which to send the message.Message well received, but it makes me a little uncomfortable that she may have won because of demographics over true talent. Not to say that she is not talented, rather I felt that her finale was pedestrian and did not take clothing plus size or otherwise to a new level. A sign of a great designer in my opinion is one who innovates; there are so many undiscovered silhouettes that can be worn by the plus-size woman. I am waiting for those designs and hopefully Ashley will deliver that with future collections.

Kontrol readers do you think Ashley won fair and square?