Racial Diversity In Modeling

[yourbestfriend]

It is interesting and something I have certainly noticed as well. Here's the thing...where exactly do we achieve a happy medium. Please spare me the Miuccia doesn't do castings bit - she is the head designer and carries too much clout and has been around far too long NOT to notice it and take corrective action if she so pleases...these directors work for her. She isn't some emerging designer who doesn't have any control...she is Prada..period.
As for the castings of models, I don't know where that medium lies...people will be upset by the one token casting of a black or asian model and then some will be upset by the lack of them and then if there are too many black/asian models, the white (and here comes a generalization) customer base (who will never admit it) will be turned off by the brand. I remember a male Asian model in Prada many years ago, but never a black model, which defintely makes you go hmm...its certainly not a mere coincidene...its 2005 and Prada's been around forever and black models are readily available......
I'm a Prada fan, maybe not part of her intended demographic, but it won't cause me to abandon the brand just yet....I hate to think that the people at Prada believe that a lily white image sells, but hell, lets be real here...it does and it doesn't upset the apple cart too much (as evidenced by some of the responses in this thread).

I also don't think designers should be forced to include models of a different race and ethincity, but if you don't feel Prada is representing all of its custoemrs, the best thing you can do is write to Prada Group, stop purchasing and encourage others to do the same until you see some different faces on the Prada runways and in the Prada editorial campaigns.

OT but do you know where i can find these ads with the asian male?

 

[mouko]

Takeshi Kaneshiro did ads for prada a while back. He was recently in House of flying daggers if you don't know who he is.

Prada Ads

 

[yourbestfriend]

thanks mouko

 

[Draped_Ape]

I think the models are an extension of the image that designers are trying project. While it may not be an issue of racism, it says something about what they want associated with their style/brand.

 

[jssy4eva]

cnn looked at prada runway footage and found that they haven't had a woman of color on their runway in six years...personally i think that is ridiculous. it's almost like they're saying "these women shouldn't be wearing prada; we aren't targeting them."

This is an excert from the article in questin...there ilso a linkwhere you
"The omissions are evident. Take fashion giant Prada, for example. CNN looked at runway shows going back several years.

Last year, there were no women of color in their show. In 2003, none and in 2002, zero.

Indeed, Prada has not put a woman of color on its runway in at least six years. A Prada spokesperson did not return CNN's calls."

Taken from www.cnn.com

if u want to see the whole article, go to google and look up (prada not using colored models) that is how i found it

I also want to thank u guys for all your great opinions on this topic...i know it isn't going to change alot but maybe it will open up a few more eyes

 

[shopsmuch]

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it's simply a coincidence. Plus, maybe some designers just like using girls who all look similar, which is not really racist.

Umm....agree. I'm not trying to seem naïve but I honestly don't think it was some cold, calculated plan to keep colored models out of their shows. It probably just...happened. The casting directors picked white models, maybe subconsciously keeping out colored models, but I don't think that means they're trying to send the message that women of color should stay away from the brand, and I don't think it implies that ANYONE at the brand is racist, including Miuccia.


As for what brian said, about them only putting black models in the ugliest outfits, I think that's stupid and untrue. If you go to the model search at style.com and search Liya, Yasmin, Ujjwala, or Alex Wek you'll see that all of them are wearing pleanty of beautiful outfits in the shows. Especially Liya, and I think this simply is because the more popular a model is, the better the clothes they will get to wear. Liya is more well know than any of the other models that I mentioned, therefore she gets to wear better outfits than the others. Which is why Gemma or Daria would start and close a show with the best outfits of all the collection. I think it's really that simple.

 

[softgrey]

moved into supporting cast...

 

[Ho-Coture]

If you go to the model search at style.com and search Liya, Yasmin, Ujjwala, or Alex Wek you'll see that all of them are wearing pleanty of beautiful outfits in the shows. Especially Liya, and I think this simply is because the more popular a model is, the better the clothes they will get to wear. Liya is more well know than any of the other models that I mentioned, therefore she gets to wear better outfits than the others. Which is why Gemma or Daria would start and close a show with the best outfits of all the collection. I think it's really that simple.

Since when was Liya more known that Alex Wek?

 

[morgan38]

^well she's certainly more used right now

whether she's been a mroe successful model is debatable

 

[TheSweetest]

I can't believe I never noticed. That's weird.

 

[yourbestfriend]

It must mean something that they were willing to use an asian model for their entire campaign, if they were only going to do it for legal reasons, the model wouldnt have been featured in so many shots.

 

[.francesca]

Because Miuccia Prada is a white European...if she uses black models she is making a point whereas is she uses white models she's just following convention.

what point would she be making?

 

[cloud9]

totally agree with you, theory... coincidence?? i think not... just now that the chinese market is booming, they cast hye park in almost ALL the important shows, including prada... ai never had so many important castings in one season (that's to be discussed later)

what does hye park's being in shows have to do with the booming in chinese market?

 

[Deleted member 1957]

Because Miuccia Prada is a white European...if she uses black models she is making a point whereas is she uses white models she's just following convention.

what was convention yesterday is racism today. if we were to follow convention then we might as well have separate pubs and buses. I also agree Liya, Yasmeen, Kimanee and many new black girls fit the Prada image perfectly. Funny enough many black and coloured stars swear by Prada in most of their songs!! If Karl Lagerfield can use black models who can't

 

[Andro]

I know that Naomi Campbell walked the runway for Prada at the autumn-winter 1997-98 season.

 

[travolta]

is it also convention to have 13, 14 year olds walking the catwalk instead of asian or black models? it seems this isn't the only thing that is backwards

 

[birdofparadise]

Why doesn't Prada put black models on her runway? Because she doesn't want to. It's as simple and as honest as that and I think it's important to respect a designer's vision. It doesn't demean and diminish the value of black women around the world, at least I hope it would not. And what of Asian women or Indian women or women from the Middle East, from those wealthy cultures that can really afford all of this...gear, this stuff, these clothes? Before we get too uptight about this, we have to ask ourselves how important is it that Prada diversify the little girls she sends down the runway in overpriced clothing?

It leaves the responsibility of representing an honest vision of the world, if that is a responsibility worth carrying, on us, the future designers, bookers, casting agents, photographers and yada yada yada. Don't say nobody warned you.

 

[Mr-Dale]

Why would there be a point in using black white or Asian models in what is 'just a rtw show'? I mean, there would be a point in it, in say, an Asian inspired couture show, or African for that matter. That would just be typecasting. Using Alek (yes with a k, not with an x) Liya or whomever in a rtw show like Prada's or Calvin Klein or Gucci etcetera...would not make a statement at all I think. Neither would using any other skin colour either. I mean, everyone using the Russian girls, does that mean per se that the designers are saying, omg be Russian or be nothing and go away? No I don't think so. I stick with my point that it's just a coincidence.

 

[birdofparadise]

I agree and disagree with Mr. Dale (whom we all love with burning passions never to be quenched).

In a way, he right: there is no point, there rarely is any coherent connection between the models chosen and the clothes. You could get into specific cases, perhaps, like Dior Homme or 'urban wear' but then you run up against designer esthetic.

But...model agencies and bookers, casting agents and the like get paid a lot of money to choose the 'right' girl. You'd be foolish to think for one second that they don't actively, wholeheartedly discriminate. Of course they do, they get paid to do it: She's... too fat, too skinny, too pale, too dark, too black, too white, too known, too blonde, too womanly, too girly. We all remember the BBC's expose on the Elite Agency and top level exective Xavier Moreau spouting racist remarks when confronted with black model hopefuls. It's the nature of the beast. I think we're all well aware that we don't live in some candy coated world in which all wrongs are righted and people actually think for themselves. We can't nail Prada to the cross--there are too many in line before her.

 

[SJPdeux]

I would just like to borrow some of Theory's words as they were so fittingly succint -

I might not fit into Prada's demographic but having been a wearer and a fan for years, I am not likely to dump my bags and shoes anytime soon, in protest of something that is so not new!!

Ethnic women have always been lagging behind their European counterparts in the world of Media&Fashion forever. The only issue I have with this thread is the OP use of the word coloured to describe black models. Anyone calls me coloured to my face and I am likey to turn your face into a coloured mess. Think black, blue and purple...