• Armenian Actor Samvel Tadevosyan Stars in New Dior Men Campaign

  Armenian actor Samvel Tadevosyan has starred in Dior Men’s new advertising campaign, Dior Men Tailoring Winter 2026. He is one of the models featured in the French fashion house’s latest project dedicated to modern menswear and tailoring...

• Why Are Luxury Brands Being Forced to Cut Prices?

  Earlier this year, a medium-sized Gucci Mercato leather tote designed by Demna for the Spring/Summer 2026 collection would have cost you $2,900. But in May, Bernstein analysts noticed a change: Gucci had quietly cut the price of the bag by around 20–25%, Vogue reports...

• Suit with braces: What the British Prime Minister's wardrobe choice says about him

  Fashion subculture, a nod to 80s excess, or a symbol of tradition? British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s wardrobe has once again become a topic of fashion debate after he appeared in public wearing a suit with braces, The Guardian writes...

• From the music stage to speed: famous violinist Sergey Khachatryan shines on the race track

  World-famous violinist Sergey Khachatryan has once again shown that his talent knows no bounds...

• “It Doesn’t Even Cover the Nipple”: Influencer Mocks Kim Kardashian’s Microscopic Skims Bodysuit

  Influencer Remi Bader put Skims’ new Fits Everybody collection to a rather revealing test—and, judging by her reaction, she was far from impressed with the result...

• Gray Suit and Unbuttoned Shirt: Why Killer Luigi Mangione’s Wardrobe Became New York’s Biggest Fashion Show

  High-profile trials have captured public attention for over 130 years, and throughout history, the public has scrutinized defendants' outfits with equal fervor. Another confirmation of this is Luigi Mangione, whose courtroom appearances sparked a fierce reaction not only in legal circles but also in the fashion world, writes WWD...

• Gucci Breaks the Main Taboo of the Luxury Industry: Why the Fashion House Is Lowering Prices

  In the world of haute couture, it is customary to believe that luxury is immune to the laws of conventional business. While mass manufacturers fight for customers through cost optimization and dumping, luxury brands have always survived on pure creativity, exclusivity, and continuous price hikes, writes FT...

• "Feces" in Trend: How the Brand That Mocked High Fashion Became Its Favorite Enfant Terrible

  Today, it is a relatively young but incredibly popular fashion house experiencing its finest hour, writes The Salon...

Forbes has issued an article, entitled “Who Is Armine Harutyunyan And How Did She Become A Victim of Body-Shaming In Italy?”

The author of this writes that Armenian model Armine Harutyunyan’s “unconventional” appearance sparked a nation-wide debate in Italy last weekend about beauty standards, modeling, and body-shaming.

Despite the model having appeared several times now on Gucci catwalks, it seems her inclusion in a list, since revealed to be non-existent, of the 100 sexiest models in the world drawn up by Gucci was the catalyst for the sudden spotlight on Harutyunyan.

As per this article, Harutyunyan, 23, is a familiar face at Gucci shows led by Alessandro Michele. However, over the weekend there was an explosion of criticism in Italian media and on social media channels about her “unusual” looks. She became the target of negative and hateful comments insulting her appearance and questioning her validity as a model. 

“Harutyunyan’s features are angular, with a long nose, thick eyebrows and deep, dark eyes. That she does not fit the ‘normal’ canon of model beauty is an intentional choice by Michele, who has been favoring underappreciated forms of beauty in his shows for several years now,” Forbes wrote.

Jonathan Bazzi, an Italian author, took to Instagram in an attempt to explain this evolution of beauty standards in the industry. He writes, “models today very often aren’t ‘beautiful’, the fashion world has a language which is not that of 20, 30 years ago. Characters and faces are chosen on the basis of their meaning and the atmosphere desired by the creative director, they are no longer the embodiment of the audience’s erotic fantasies.”

In response to the storm of negativity, Harutyunyan spoke to national paper La Repubblica about body positivity and diversity. “People are scared by everything that is different,” she commented, but for her, “there are many different ways of being beautiful.” Harutyunyan remarked that this is not the first time she has received negative comments about her appearance and while it hurts, she is determined to ignore them. “It is better to be different than conform to others, even if this is not understood by everyone,” she said. “My advice is to concentrate on yourself, on who you are and what you really love.”

Photos by Gor Robertovich/ Instagram

Follow NEWS.am STYLE on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram