Racial Diversity In Modeling

[mint condish]

Watching old John Galliano runway shows on YouTube, they are so diverse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14nYhzzbe7A

 

[dsamg]

^^there's irony for you.

 

[Littleathquakes]

yup, exactly what James Scully was talking about. But people will still crucify JG to this day and no one notices the rest of the industry.

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

For me, it's a problem that minority races hate on people of their own colour. They should be more supportive. I totally accept that a person might actually and honestly dislike a model of their own race and that's everyone's right. But why is it interesting for this discussion? For me, the more minorities, the happier I am.

i dont necessarily agree with this, just because i am black i have to like every black model out there? no, why should we look or feel some type of way about a model because the color of her skin? it should be whether or not she is fits a brand and I think that's what a lot of us are stressing in this thread. Of course I am going to be drawn to black models who I perceive to be beautiful but there are other factors that I take into consideration when i like a model (runway walk, personality, ability to adapt to brands). Diversity should just be automatic not only because we're black, asian, or hispanic and would like to see our people represented (although it is a reason) we shouldnt have to look at a runway show today or flip through a magazine and comment on the lack of diversity or complement each time they use models of color; it should just be expected just like putting on our shoes before we leave the house.

 

[mint condish]

You misunderstood what I said. Never said you have to like every model that's the same race as you. I have experienced the tendency of certain people who always have to bash the most popular models of their own race. And that's what I don't like. That tendency will just serve to bring your own race down. I never see white people do that.

I completely agree that diversity is expected. I do not disagree with you on that.

 

[Cold]

^

I never see white people do that.

What... of course white people do that too. Regardless of a model's race, taste is something that's entirely subjective and supporting the minority shouldn't be equated in an individual sense. Any race isn't just some monolithic group. No one is obligated to like Joan Smalls or Naomi for example, but any kind of bad opinion directed towards them doesn't indicate that people are bringing down black models in general.

 

[senorgemma]

Interesting article on BoF today..

Op-Ed Racial Diversity on the Runway

NEW YORK, United States — For the last five years Jenna Sauers, a writer for the popular feminist blog Jezebel, has been analysing and reporting on the racial diversity of models at New York Fashion Week. The numbers have gone slightly up and down in each report. But from Fall 2008, when Sauers first began the study and discovered that a mere thirteen percent of looks were worn by non-white girls, until now, where the figure stands at seventeen percent, every season has brought the same conclusion: the vast majority of the women walking the runways are Caucasian.

There are, of course, those like Riccardo Tisci and Tom Ford who use a diverse range of models in their shows. But, sadly, these designers are the anomaly, not the norm.

Recently, I read an article wherein five of the industry’s top casting directors were asked to give an explanation as to why fashion shows are so white; the fashion shows that they themselves cast. I was expecting the same drivel I have heard a hundred times over: “The designer isn’t racist, they simply have a vision and (insert minority here) may not have been right for the collection.” While James Scully told of his own furore with the industry’s lack of diversity and cited some the shows he works on as examples of racially diverse casting (Tom Ford, Jason Wu), Barbara Nicoli and Leila Ananna seemed to make true my prediction.

The power duo currently selects models for some of the world’s leading fashion brands, including Saint Laurent, Gucci and Burberry. Why then, despite their status and the global reach of the labels they work with, were just twelve of the 128 models that Nicoli and Ananna booked for their Fall 2013 shows Asian and only four black? Nicoli claimed that it wasn’t about the model’s skin colour, but the body, the face, the attitude and the aesthetic of the designer.

“I think if you’re very strict on your collection and have a vision, it’s pretty difficult to accept someone who is far from your idea of the woman wearing your clothes,” she said. “It’s all about your beauty ideal, not the colour of your skin or race… It’s also true that, for example, Caucasians have a specific body type, black girls have a specific body shape, and Asian girls have a specific body shape. So I guess there are some collections where it’s more perfect for an Asian body shape because they are more flat and less sexy, in a way. Asians, they are not curvy, so to put an Asian [who's] very flat [with a] baby body shape in a show where normally the designer knows they love sexy, beautiful, curvy girls, it’s a bit of nonsense. If you do it, it’s just because you have to or you want to please your customer coming from Asia.”

Maida Gregori Boina and Rami Fernandes — casting directors for Calvin Klein, Jil Sander and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s The Row — are also notorious for their all, or near-all, white line-ups. Calvin Klein, in particular, just this past season was entirely Caucasian. And here’s where it gets even worse: in the last eight years there have been only six different black models and zero models of other ethnicities, other than Caucasian, featured in their shows, according to an analysis of imagery on Style.com.

Like former model Bethann Hardison, I think this all started with Prada. After the supermodel era, Miuccia Prada did something revolutionary. She made her show about the clothes and not the models wearing them. She plucked brand new girls from obscurity, stamping them with the promising label of “exclusive.” And each subsequent season, we saw an influx of these girls, often from Eastern Europe, with little personality and names no one bothered to remember. In more cases than not, they disappeared the very next season. Other brands, including Calvin Klein, Jil Sander and Balenciaga followed suit. And as a result, as James Scully told Trudi Tapscott Model Management last year, “personality and ethnicity” have been largely erased.

So, how do we fix this?

The first issue is that many in the industry simply do not recognise this for what it actually is: racism. Remember, this is the same industry that dressed Karlie Kloss in a traditional native-American headdress to model lingerie in the Victoria’s Secret show and paints white models black. Discrimination based on the colour of a model’s skin is not uncommon. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Joan Smalls revealed that she was repeatedly told by agents that “there’s room for only one” model of colour. The outspoken Chanel Iman shared a similar struggle with The Times: “Designers have told me, ‘We already found one black girl. We don’t need you any more.’” And earlier this month, Jourdan Dunn told British talk show host Jonathan Ross the story of how, during fashion week, a makeup artist simply refused to work with her because she was black.

This isn’t about filling a quota. It’s about getting global brands to recognise that when they send an all-white cast down the runway, they are promoting an ideal of beauty that does not include the majority of the world’s population. This is problematic. It’s not only troubling from a business perspective. It’s also a social issue. And the bottom line is, a casting director is simply not doing their job right if they cannot see beauty or relevance in models of colour.

There is no simple or quick solution. The modelling industry is unregulated and, unfortunately, many simply say this is how fashion is and it’s not going to change. But, in the end, if all you do is put out an all-black issue, as Italian Vogue did back in 2008, then simply go back to what you were doing before, it’s nothing more than tokenism. The truth is, it only takes one or two people at the top to move things in a better direction. Like Gianni Versace, who created the supermodel, and Miuccia Prada, who dismantled her, it is possible to make changes — and those changes need to start now.

source: businessoffashion

 

[Littleathquakes]

Very good article, just disappointed that Galliano wasn't thrown in there as well with the other shining examples of designers with diversity casting.

And it's not just the ladies either. This is backstage at the Fashion Cares show...a charity cause and the cast is still homogeneously white. I think I see one tanned model, but it could just be the lighting.

http://forums.thefashionspot.com/showpost.php?p=11678897&postcount=680

 

[dsamg]

Spot the non-white girl

MF FASHION CELEBRATES VALENTINO WITH APRIL 2013 COVER STORY

Classic Style Reigns – Italian style bible MF Fashion pays tribute to one of the country’s most enduring fashion houses, Valentino, in its latest issue. Head designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli pose with a bevy of beauties including Meghan Collison, Mackenzie Drazan, Maud Welzen, Jac Jagaciak, Hanne Gaby Odiele, Kati Nescher, Ondria Hardin, Julia Nobis, Marie Piovesan, Sara Blomqvist and Caroline Brasch Nielsen. Stefano Roncato styled the stunning cast exclusively in Valentino’s fall winter 2013 collection. Pablo Arroyo captured the designers and models in Paris for the chic spread.

fashiongonerogue

 

[StoneSkipper]

^Seems like it was shot backstage, the casting is the same as the show's. (And there wasn't a non-white girl in sight there either.)

 

[ad31214]

I thought Fei Fei was in one of the shots? Might have been another publication also celebrating the brand.

By the way I was just wondering about Pauline Hoarau's ethnic background if anyone knew, I know she is from Reunion Island but not entirely sure about her background, I tend to see her as a model of color, she has to have some ethnic mix seeing as Reunion island is quite diverse.

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

every time i look at valentino i think of sister wives

 

[intern22]

I thought Fei Fei was in one of the shots? Might have been another publication also celebrating the brand.

By the way I was just wondering about Pauline Hoarau's ethnic background if anyone knew, I know she is from Reunion Island but not entirely sure about her background, I tend to see her as a model of color, she has to have some ethnic mix seeing as Reunion island is quite diverse.

I wonder about paulines race too, I remember seeing a video on YouTube of her trying out for elite model look in her homeland and the group of people cheering her on were black. I do not consider her a white model. I think she may be black.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[ad31214]

I wonder about paulines race too, I remember seeing a video on YouTube of her trying out for elite model look in her homeland and the group of people cheering her on were black. I do not consider her a white model. I think she may be black.
Posted via Mobile Device

Okay! I thought I was the only one here who thought that way. She is for sure a model of color in my eyes, she is definitely not fully white, even if her mixed background dates back a while.

 

[KatJenahMckey]

No one talks about Céline on here but they haven't booked a single black model since Phoebe Philo took over. Last black models to walk for them were in SS09. A real shame because I love Phoebe's work.

 

[tctra]

Gosh, isn't this discussion such a mine field? Some of the comments from the casting directors a few pages back regarding black and asian models is quite disturbing if not outright racist. AT the end of the day, you have to ask, are they just giving the public what they want or is there an onus on the industry to push for diversity. After all, they are the trendsetters, they have the power to push a diverse beauty if they wanted to.

But at what cost though? I read somewhere a while back that non-white models on magazines didn't sell anywhere near as well as white models. Should a company, whose goal is to make profitable return to shareholders not have the right to cast or put whoever they want that will give them maximum returns on profits, even if that means casting a majority white lineup?

I'm of two minds about this, being non-white myself; If I look at it objectively, I can see the economic reason, if not the artistic - America and Europe are majority white Caucasian and I don't expect them to buy into a standard of beauty that doesn't represent them.

What I'm more disheartened by, is the white standard of beauty that is prevalent throughout Asia. I wish we'd embrace our own beauty more but it seems every magazine cover, every ad campaign is dominated by European models. The same 50ft European billboards & banners, whether it be Gucci or Prada are used throughout Asia without even localising models for the destination market. What does that say about the Asian consumer? They must not be too flustered because Asia has been a hail Mary for many of these flailing luxury brands. Add on top you have ads for eye lid surgery, skin whitening, it's a real shame and you can start to see why this discussion becomes increasingly difficult

 

[theBlueRider]

tctra, I never bought into the "white women/blond blue eyed women sell more" magazines and products. I think there are a lot of other factors into consider in those numbers and until companies release the actual numbers, I don't buy into it.

In the 90's and 80's, there were a lot of black and asian models featured on magazine covers and big advertisements. If someone is new to the fashion industry, they will probably find it crazy that black models were regularly on the cover of Vogue, Elle etc compared to today (we have to make a big deal with Joan Smalls gets a cover..). But more importantly, black and asian models were regularly used in fashion and cosmetic advertisements (CoverGirl, Chanel beauty and fragrance, Clarins, Revlon, YSL ads, Versace ads etc). Back then, people spent more on fashion and frivolous things unlike today in which sales have dropped and people are more likely to shop at H&M, Gap, Old Navy (stores that have always utilized diversity in their ads).

Now we're starting to see a lot of celebrities taking away a lot of the modeling jobs (and they come in all kinds of backgrounds, skin tones, haircolors, asymmetries etc). We're seeing that they sell better than the pristine 16 year old blond blue eyed Russian fashion model. So I feel as if something doesn't add up when I hear these casting directors defend their choices.

 

[ad31214]

No one talks about Céline on here but they haven't booked a single black model since Phoebe Philo took over. Last black models to walk for them were in SS09. A real shame because I love Phoebe's work.

That is really insane, and I thought Jil Sander was bad. Would you happen to know who casts the Céline show?

 

[Style Savvy]

^Russell Marsh.

 

[ad31214]

^Russell Marsh.

For some reason I knew that but I blanked, thank you! It probably has something to do with "what Phoebe wants her models to look like", pretty awful if you ask me.