Racial Diversity In Modeling

[OMIFAN9]

E-X-A-C-T-L-Y ! she has aways been like a panther defending her place, I have noticed that black women in the entertainment world are jealous and enviuos, just look at Beyonce and all her jealousy toward Rhianna, Jennifer Hudson .... I mean, you can't really help them, if they don't support each other then?

PLEASE...sounds like you & a few others are too fixed on gossip! Taking it like its the gospel truth,you've never seen these things. Its sad,how media can play people.

 

[OMIFAN9]

joseph-
everything you say is wrong...
..

I have to agree,to put it nicely I'm just appalled by the obvious negativity & blindness.

 

[OMIFAN9]

Naomi makes a fine point as iluvjeisa put it the proof is in the pudding just look at the numbers. She's been in the business for over 20 years I think she knows what the heck is going on be it on covers,at shows,with the girls(she had no other tiff with any other blackmodel other than Ty) or even how being the top black girl makes you a target in the press for up & comers. She btw isn't the only one who speaks out about the 'trend' be it Iman,Andre Talley,etc. The thing is she doesn't have anything to gain or for the most part lose by pointing out the bias...she's got her covers! She could just be scared & not speak out like others...so I commend her for speaking out.

 

[misssakura]

In general a lot of covers play it safe and they're pretty rubbish. It would be nice to see an editor say..right screw it, we're not going to do what's already been done before...

Generally these big magazines seem to pick an 'IT' girl or the closest variant...for example Gemma Ward. That will continue until they've used that up and then pick a new one. Seems like that happened with the UK Vogue, they just kept using Naomi because her face was recognisable...even then there was no diversity.

I think a lot of editors get really complacent and don't try to push any new looks. They're content with what they know and I think that fact in itself is sad.

The fact is that this is happening all over fashion. Just look at the recent runway collections...with very few exceptions it's as if the industry is producing lemmings or at least having a lemmings moment.

I think the problem is that a lot of the industry is focused on profit and not exploration. Sort of like if the USS Starship Voyager became a people carrier, they wouldn't stop at new planets every 5 seconds.

 

[ChristionCouture]

Education is a primary, basic necessity, it should be a right for every human being, just don't compare education with fashion, fashion is a frivolous thing, insted of spending money buying Vogue expecting to see black women and complaining about wanting black women looking "chic" in fashion magazines, isn't a better idea to pay attention to all those women in Darfur? what have we done for them? that would be real moral courage!






did you really pay attention what she said?

"Only white models, some of whom are not as prominent as I am, are put on the front pages"

excuse me but that woman is everything except humble.

1 - her arrest was a consequence of her wild and rude behaviour.


2 - her community service was an obligation, not an act of maturity,she was even childish trying to make fun of that in W magazine.


she's a fake to me and a lot of others that I know.

Fashion is art. If fashion was frivolous, it wouldn't be a billion dollar industry. Do you realize that fashion motivates some people to attend school? Lots of people go through years of schooling in order to be apart of the fashion industry (including myself). Imagine working so hard to be apart of an industry that doesn't seem to fully accept your race. After working so hard and being so passionate about the art of fashion, you realize that no matter what you do, you will only get but so far due to your skin color. For me, Naomi's comment goes deeper than Vogue covers and models. It's more about the fashion industry's general feelings towards non-white races. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that this "fashion bible" is unwelcoming to anyone non-white. There's a difference between tolerance and acceptance. Tolerance is putting a Black model on the cover once every couple of years. Acceptance is constantly featuring various races and acknowledging the beauty and uniqueness that every race provides to the world. Vogue knows that it can make or break someone. When something isn't right, they have an obligation to the international world of Art & Fashion to do something about it. There are thousands of Black designers in the world. You're seriously trying to tell me that Vogue can't launch not even one of their careers? This goes beyond models and covers.

 

[OMIFAN9]

^Uhmmm,can I give you karma now?! I mean that was something else,wow!

 

[sepia]

If I saw Vogue populated wtih Alex Weks, I'd be kind of confused.

Imagine how Black consumers, like myself, feel when they buy fashion magazines and see no models of color.

I definitely agree with Naomi. Fashion has always been a white-washed industry, but it's become much worse in the last decade or so. Name 5 Black top models that have a significant number of covers, high fashion campaigns and runway shows. Kind of hard to do. Now name 5 white ones.

I wrote a paper about it last semester and, after performing research, even during the apex of the supermodel era, which had the most successful Black models, all of them complained about racism in the industry. It exists, unfortunately, and I think the entire industry can do better to come up with a balance in who is represented.

I don't buy the "the people who can afford it are represented". Blacks spend hundreds of millions of dollars are clothing and apparel every year. Plus, during the '80s and '90s, who was complaining about all the Black top models then not being able to sell and appeal to white consumers? No one.

It extends even beyond modeling. With the cover issue, even Black celebrities can't get on the covers of the big mags. Thandie Newton, Naomie Harris, and a few other British actresses have never been on the cover of UK Vogue. We already saw from the reactions of Jennifer Hudson's Vogue cover as to how infrequent Black appearances on its cover are.

 

[Alejandro]

i think ale's point was that high-end makeup lines do not have foundation shades for women of color, not lines like mac...
chanel used to (in fact it was one of my favorite foundations), but they discontinued it...

iman said in an interview that on her first shoot for an editorial, the hair and makeup team had no clue what to do with her...
the makeup artist had a nerve to ask her if she brought her own makeup...
that was part of her inspiration for starting her line...

absolutely.

I remember Dior carrying their foundations until 800, now they dont carry anything but 500 as their darkest.

Being black, or a makeup artist, you know how hard it is to get the right shade, and yeah, Iman has her brand, but its not a brand you can find easily anywhere!. Its just the lack of...variety?

It's not an accesible thing for black women, finding options.

 

[ChristionCouture]

In the news today

Ironic, huh?

 

[sepia]

I agree with Naomi on principle, but the thing that bothers me about her comments is that when she was on top and getting most of the "Black model" jobs, she never complained, at least I am not aware that she did.

I'm sure OMI has probably mentioned it, but that's not true. She's spoken up against racism in modeling many times, because she's always been at a disadvantage because of her race, and this isn't the first time she's noticed.

Most notably, she was one of the members of the Black Girls Coalition, a group formed by top Black models of the industry as a way of trying to get more work and equity for Black models. That was in the early 1990s. Others like Iman and Tyra were also there, so even the successful ones have been vocal about the problem.

 

[OMIFAN9]

^Yeah,she's always been vocal ask anyone from Andre to Iman to anybody...she had the pressure on her from the beginning(to being the next and to make a change)! I've been watching her for years and I've seen her do it!

 

[sepia]

i think that the arguement is flawed because in reality you can't force somebody to do something if thats not what they want to do.

if a magazine wants to put a white girl on the cover and not a black girl, i dont think that is being racist, you just have to accept thats the decision that theyve made.

if i decide to wear white tshirts on a day to day basis and not black tshirts, somebody cant accuse me of being prejudice towards black tshirts, its just that i chose white tshirts instead... and if some day i decided i would wear a black one today then i can do so...

its a very difficuly subject i know because girls of colour always feel second best in media type industries but i dont think that the general public or the people who put together publications are conciously being racist when they make their decisions

I disagree because I think it's necessary to dig a little deeper than that. People aren't T-shirts. But if you do only want white models on the cover, you have to ask yourself, "Why?" Inherent in there has to be some bias towards whiteness. Is it because white women are considered the most beautiful or fashionable? Is it because white women are the most popular celebrities? That reveals bias towards whiteness.

Also, couldn't any racist use that logic and say, "Well, I just don't like talking to Black people. I just have a preference for being around whites"?

I think it would be easier to see Naomi's perspective if you imagine the shoe being on the other foot. What if, in every fashion editorial, on every fashion cover, in every fashion campaign, there were only Black models? Wouldn't that alienate everyone else? That's how Black consumers feel, and other people of color. I definitely agree that it's not just about Blacks, but all people of color.

 

[LeBelAge]

I'm sure OMI has probably mentioned it, but that's not true. She's spoken up against racism in modeling many times, because she's always been at a disadvantage because of her race, and this isn't the first time she's noticed.

Most notably, she was one of the members of the Black Girls Coalition, a group formed by top Black models of the industry as a way of trying to get more work and equity for Black models. That was in the early 1990s. Others like Iman and Tyra were also there, so even the successful ones have been vocal about the problem.

I didn't know. Thanks for correcting me.

 

[sepia]

Vogue and other international magazines are about setting the standard. They force everything else down your throat, why can't they force diversity down it too?!

Well freakin said! It's like no one wants to take a chance (using diverse models) in an industry that is built on innovation!

 

[LeBelAge]

Fashion is art. If fashion was frivolous, it wouldn't be a billion dollar industry. Do you realize that fashion motivates some people to attend school? Lots of people go through years of schooling in order to be apart of the fashion industry (including myself). Imagine working so hard to be apart of an industry that doesn't seem to fully accept your race. After working so hard and being so passionate about the art of fashion, you realize that no matter what you do, you will only get but so far due to your skin color. For me, Naomi's comment goes deeper than Vogue covers and models. It's more about the fashion industry's general feelings towards non-white races. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that this "fashion bible" is unwelcoming to anyone non-white. There's a difference between tolerance and acceptance. Tolerance is putting a Black model on the cover once every couple of years. Acceptance is constantly featuring various races and acknowledging the beauty and uniqueness that every race provides to the world. Vogue knows that it can make or break someone. When something isn't right, they have an obligation to the international world of Art & Fashion to do something about it. There are thousands of Black designers in the world. You're seriously trying to tell me that Vogue can't launch not even one of their careers? This goes beyond models and covers.

Very deep. Much food for thought.

 

[sepia]

white dominance within general population = white representation, hence the overwhelming amount of white models on covers. Thats the demographic for Vogue, white middle class woman; with variations of fashion savvy heterosexual man and homosexual fans.

My question is, even if you are trying attract to mostly the white wealthy consumers, will they not respond well to advertisements, eds or covers using a Black model? If you put Liya in Chanel, would it look any less appealing than if Daria was modeling? If Yasmin Warsame was modeling Valentino or Ungaro, it wouldn't look as attractive to white consumers as it would if Natalia was doing it?

 

[sepia]

Notice the years in between Noami's covers: hence my referal to proportional representation

Also notice the months of each issue.

 

[sepia]

Today I actually considered this very subject, the fact that there are magazines devoted to a certain race, and wondered why it hadn't been mentioned in this thread previously. When you think about it, there isn't a definite difference between having strictly black models in magazines like Ebony and having strictly white models in Vogue.

Ebony and Essence are not high fashion magazines. They aren't even fashion magazines. They feature a couple of fashion shoots, but a Black consumer would be hard pressed to find high fashion if they relegated their exposure to those magazines.

The fact that those magazines even exist is as a reaction to the lack of visibility of Black celebrities, etc in mainstream magazines. So I think it's kind of an unfair comparison to say, "Oh, well Black people can just read Essence and leave it at that". Why are we segregating the publications? Fashion magazines, specifically, should be open to everyone.

 

[sepia]

I can't believe you are associating all blacks with hip-hop. Now that is just plain ignorant.

Extremely offensive comments coming from him.

 

[Gincat]

I think it would be easier to see Naomi's perspective if you imagine the shoe being on the other foot. What if, in every fashion editorial, on every fashion cover, in every fashion campaign, there were only Black models? Wouldn't that alienate everyone else? That's how Black consumers feel, and other people of color. I definitely agree that it's not just about Blacks, but all people of color.

I totally agree with everything you've been saying on all this, Sepia. I'm an Indian woman, and it makes a difference to me if I see a woman of color out there (whether she's black, asian, whatever).

There's a difference between tolerance and acceptance. Tolerance is putting a Black model on the cover once every couple of years. Acceptance is constantly featuring various races and acknowledging the beauty and uniqueness that every race provides to the world. Vogue knows that it can make or break someone. When something isn't right, they have an obligation to the international world of Art & Fashion to do something about it. There are thousands of Black designers in the world. You're seriously trying to tell me that Vogue can't launch not even one of their careers? This goes beyond models and covers.

Beautifully stated.