Fashion Week's Failure To Be Diverse

So amidst all my pre-Fashion Week excitement, nervousness and general craziness I looked at the morning paper (Daily News) and read a startling and somewhat sad article about several designers lack of diverse models. With me being Spanish it really saddens me that there is either a lack of agencies hiring Asian, black or Hispanic models and designers lack or reluctance to then hire those few minority models for runway shows.

President of the Council of Fashion Designers of America ( CFDA) Diane Von Furstenberg hopes that designers heed her plea to have a more diverse lineup of models with different ethnicity's as well as body types for this upcoming Fashion Week, as do I. Six months ago at New York's last Fashion Week out of 1,584 models that walked the runway's only 94 were black, 17 Latinas, and 95 were Asian. Eighteen Designers didn't have any black models and out of that eighteen, six designers didn't even bother to have ANY model that was nonwhite. How uninspiring! When you go to a fashion show you not only want to see what the clothes look like but you want to see those clothes on an array of different women with different complexions, hair, body types etc. Watching a whitewashed show is a bit unnerving. With me when I go to a fashion show I want to see a girl who looks like me (OK well I'm not model material so maybe not JUST like me!) but I want to see someone with dark hair or a dark or olive complexion so If a particular outfit complements her skin tone I know it will do the same for me.

Tracy Reese who is a prominent African-American designer says, "I was pleasantly surprised this year," says Reese "We're always calling up the agencies to say , "We want to see black girls, Latinas, Asians, everything!" she goes on to say " For me, It's fun to see how different personalities enhance the clothes." Reese believes that the media's focus on the 'whitewashed' runways may have changed the way designers and agencies think, as she was sent more diverse models from agencies recently while putting together her model lineup for her collection which will be unveiled on Sunday.

Carlos Campos whose showing his first women's collection on Monday has decided to make a point and has a lineup of ALL black models but some wonder is it enough? Will others follow suit? Last season Jill Stuart who featured an all-white lineup said they pursued two of the best black models for this upcoming season which were Jourdan Dunn and Liya Kebede but both decided to book for Calvin Klein. Reps for Miss Sixty and Vivienne Tam who only used one and three minorities respectively refused to comment saying their model lineup was not yet complete. It leads me to wonder though when will the fashion industry stop being prejudice and embrace REAL women? When will we see an array of diverse models from all over with all different types of bodies? America may possibly be ready for an African-American President but not a black or Hispanic model on the runway with a little 'junk in her trunk'? I assume that this is going to be a long learning process for agencies, designers, models and society. Hopefully soon we'll get to a point where this wont be an issue anymore. What do you all think? I would really love to know!

xoxo

Photo Credit: Style