Media Releases

Beauty, courage and bite in new docuseries Cutting the Curve

Released at 12:00 pm on 25 August 2025

Framed by a purple fabric design is a plus-size model in a green dress. In front of her, in black-on-white text, reads: "CUTTING THE CURVE."

Photo: RNZ

What is the emotional and professional cost of being visible only when its marketable?

In an era of Ozempic bodies and curated tokenism, curve and plus size women speak with fierce honesty about visibility, rejection, and the resilience it takes to keep showing up when your body is no longer trending. Timely, urgent, and powerfully relatable, Cutting the Curve is a documentary series exploring the backlash against body diversity in fashion.

Director Julia Parnell says this is the first fashion documentary series made in Aotearoa in a very long time, and it had to be bold. 

"We wanted to reflect not just style, but identity, pressure, pride, and power. These stories deserved to be told with beauty, courage, and bite. I’ve spent my career telling stories about identity and visibility, and Cutting the Curve is the most personal and provocative yet. These women aren’t demanding a seat at the table, they’re building their own runway."

At the centre is Fashion Quarterly’s 2025 Model of the Year, Samoan New Zealand opera singer-turned-model Isabella Moore, who refuses to shrink to fit.

Through raw, first-person storytelling, the series follows Isabella and other women navigating fashion in New Zealand, London, and New York, revealing what it costs to be visible only when it’s profitable, and why true inclusion must go beyond trends.

Visually sumptuous and tonally sharp, the series moves from behind the scenes at London Fashion Week to confronting casting calls and deeply personal moments, building to an unforgettable Pacific fashion finale at Auckland’s Civic Theatre where cultural pride and unapologetic beauty come together in full power.

Producer Evelyn Ebrey says fashion has long excluded anyone above a size 14, if we were visible at all, it was as an afterthought.

“With this series, we wanted to challenge that erasure. In a time when fashion seems to be shrinking its ideals again, it felt urgent to make this series. Cutting the Curve is a love letter to those who keep showing up, even when the spotlight moves on.”

Cutting the Curve brings both fearless storytelling and striking cinematic craft to the screen. Alongside award-winning documentary director Julia Parnell (The Chills: The Triumph & Tragedy of Martin Phillipps, SIX60:Till the Lights Go Out, Waiata Anthems, Choir Games), the series was created with deep insider expertise including Producer Evelyn Ebrey, Creative Producer Sammy Salsa, and Creative Consultant Dan Ahwa bring decades of fashion industry experience behind the camera, ensuring these stories are shaped from within.

Watch Cutting the Curve at rnz.co.nz/video from midday on Monday 25 August. This series was commissioned and funded by RNZ.