For the first time, Sports Illustrated has included plus-size models on their catwalk during Miami Swim Week.

A number of curvy models walked the runway – all who are vying to get the coveted Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover for next year.

SI Editor, MJ Day said: “Some people in the audience were moved to tears because they saw themselves represented on the runway, which they never thought they would.”

However, a doctor has criticised the move which they said is “celebrating obesity”.

Sydney’s Daily Telegraph columnist, Soraiya Fuda said: “It seems to me the women who appeared to be approaching the sizes 20-26 on the catwalk are less representative of the average woman but are representative of a big underlying societal problem.

“Parading and glorifying size 20-somethings on any runway promotes an underlying and irresponsible message that doing nothing about your weight is OK.”

Brad Francium, from the Australian Medical Association backed up these statements and said the fashion industry should not “celebrate extremes”.

Brad added: “There is a difference between being confident in who you are and promoting a healthy weight message.

“It’s a difficult message but just like we don’t use cigarettes to promote products I don’t think we should have unhealthy weights promoting products.”

These statements have caused backlash from body-positive activists who have defended SI’s decision to put plus-size models in their runways.

And the fashion industry is right behind them with Susan Marasco, fashion director at Bloomingdale’s stating: “I think now more than ever, with supermodels promoting body diversity on Instagram a younger audience is expecting more trends to become available for everyone. I think the trend is only going to get stronger.

“There is so much more variety in swimsuits, you can go for a deeper-V to enhance your top, or a bathing suit with a sexy cutout.”