Model Utopie
Check out the new cover of the June/July Vogue Paris via models.com. The cover highlights model Noemie Lenoir’s unique appeal, and is an unmistakable nod, I think, to the hotly debated ‘diversity in fashion’ issue. Vogue Paris seems to be taking the lead in cautious competition with Vogue Italia, which, as rumor has it, is soon to feature an issue of predominantly black models shot by Meisel. That special issue of Italian Vogue will allegedly hit newsstands in July.
In an article that appeared in late April in The Independent oddly titled, “Black is finally in fashion,” the writers highlight the lack of representation of black models as a whole in the industry, whether that be in shoots, campaigns, or on the runway. I say oddly, because I believe that ever since Saint Laurent, representations of blackness on the runway had been regarded as inherently fashionable and even the source of vitality for fashion in the 1970s. Granted this is not the case now, but one wonders why the writers’ phrasing seems to deny this history.
True, no black model has had the kind of grand exposure that Naomi Campbell has had, what with her recent appearance in a Louis Vuitton campaign. Here are two very interesting quotes from that article, which I reproduce here because I think they point to the strange kind of insidious racism that has to do with two varying ideologies: One is a kind of aesthetic racism and has to do with ‘artistic preferences’ (a classically racist ideology); The other has to so with an economic ideology and the notion of the marketability, or lack thereof, of blackness, or as it is commonly termed, “black beauty” in fashion.
Carole White of the Premier Model Agency says she has received casting briefs requesting "no ethnics" and adds: "According to magazines, black models don't sell."…
Mr [Nick] Knight blames business people at the top of the industry. A common attitude among them, he says, is that black models are "not aspirational" or "don't sell in Asia".
While I doubt Mr. Knight is championing the prejudices he takes note of, I’m not sure what “aspirational” means in this context. And wouldn’t the issue of a lack of “aspirational” images within fashion, beg the very question, or court the very problem that obstructs black models from working successfully in fashion in the first place? It seems like black models are caught in a catch-22: they are not given jobs or featured prominently and yet the very justification of their exclusion – that they are not legible as “aspirational” or ambitious or strong enough visually - belies this initial prejudice. In other words, how as a whole can they be “aspirational” when their presence is severely lacking?
In any case, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this controversial matter, and congratulations to Carine Roitfeld for this cover, Franca Sozzani (editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue), and everyone who is recognizing this problem and not seeking an additive solution to it.
