Old Attitudes About Race in Fashion [Pre-J.7]

The Dark Side of Modeling

With its estimated annual revenue of $1.5 billion in the US and the global fashion industry valued at over $2.5 trillion, the industry offers significant financial potential.

Race- Absence and Aggression

The Colour of Beauty is a short documentary that examines the racism played out in the fashion industry.

Despite increasing diversity throughout contemporary society, it is still true that black models feature in fashion far less than their white counterparts. The editor at Italian Vogue decided to make a big statement about this [representation], the entire issue, everything from the cover and all of the editorials featured black models. The issue sold out in the U.S. and the U.K. in just 72 hours. Fashion scholar and educator Kim Jenkins shared her sentiments regarding the issue and said: 

Upon critical inspection, I’m not so confident that a dedicated issue for black fashionability should be considered a solution– it isolates black women. Not to diminish the legacy of the late Franca Sozzani, as I’m certain that her intentions for “The Black Issue” were sincere and considered homage, but increased visibility and fair representation in the fashion industry could perhaps best be resolved through: integration within the magazine pages and street ad campaigns, seats at the executive table, models on the runway and editors on the front row. Through those proposed solutions, “the black issue” will then be resolved, so to speak.

In an interview, Justin Peery, fashion agent, said “I’ve heard people say, ‘blacks don’t move product, or blacks don’t buy our clothes,” Aspiring black model Renee Thompson repeated what people in the industry said– “Black women are not our demographic.” She continued, “They’re always… expecting that Barbie-ish image… a white girl… to sell major products. It’s just something that they lean on, it’s a crutch. You’re constantly under scrutiny over something you can’t do [anything] about.”

During an intimate confession, Maurilio Carnilio, a casting director, told the documentary film crew:

              “She’s womanly, so she has kind of like a woman figure and at this moment, without being anorexic, the                     girls are like a little bit more thin. Black models, they tend to be a little “wider” hips, a little bit more round                   and so sometimes she has a fit problem. It’s not that I’m saying we don’t want a black model, we just need                to find “the right” black model. One time one of my clients said I need a black model, but she needs to be a                white girl dipped in chocolate.” 

According to casting directors, models of color get more work when they have European features such as thin lips, thin noses, and narrow hips. There is a belief that the black girls don’t push product. This tendency speaks to similar sentiments that are still perpetuated by casting directors and designers in the modeling industry. The most successful models in the fashion industry have white or European looking features, which calls for more intensive labor demands for black models. The long-standing history of the hyper-sexualization of black women in the media is then translated to how they are represented in fashion. The lens is very limited for black models. They are often found performing for the white gaze. 

But those old stereotypes and caricatures don’t reflect the emerging modern fashion markets worldwide. Fashion continues to make progress at a snail’s pace. Lisa Tant, the Editor-In-Chief of Flare magazine said, “When you look at the emerging markets in the fashion industry—China, Brazil, India—if we keep sending all white models down the runway, that isn’t gonna speak to the consumers in those markets, and any designer that continues to do that runs the risk of being irrelevant.

“Change always takes time,” Mr. Enninful said. The fashion industry needs to breed a different way of thinking. We need more diverse people working in all facets of the industry. It’s not only the models that need to reflect diversity, it is the image makers who set the trends that the rest of the industry follows too. What is happening on the runway is the result of a very Eurocentric aesthetic that has taken over the past 10 years, he said. And that has excluded other races.”

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