Jezebel: models of color

A reader sent us an email pointing out that...

Dodai — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:20:00 EDT

A reader sent us an email pointing out that Style.com has a post about the models on the Spring runways. "Diversity was the buzzword," reads the copy. And indeed, there's Aminata Niaria from Senegal; Lakshmi Menon (seen on Vogue India); Liu Wen from China; and Philly's Sessilee Lopez. Four out of 10 are models or color. Interestingly, WWD reports that the "hottest models" right now are decidedly Caucasian: Russia's Natasha Poly and Britain's Lily Donaldson. [Style.com , WWD]

Not Much Has Changed: The Faces In September Ladymags Are Overwhelmingly White

Maria — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Nothing quite says "It's August" like sifting through the pounds and pounds of perfume-scented and white-washed pages from the September issues of the major women's magazines. Sure, Italian Vogue came out with an "All Black" issue in July, but even that success probably won't motivate the editors of American women's magazines into showing a little diversity, especially if the September issues are any indication. After the jump, check out our roundup of the models of color in the ads and fashion spreads of the September ladymags, where, not surprisingly, Asian models are scarce, black models sell cleaning products, and Caucasians rule.

(Models were counted as being "ambiguous/mixed race" if we weren't sure what race they are (like the Kate Spade ads where the model was covered up), they were obviously of mixed race (Kimora Lee Simmons—still starring in her own ads!), or a non-European Hispanic woman.)

Here are the results:

Lucky:
Advertisements:
• Total Asian models: 2 (2 celebrity/non-models)
• Total Black models: 16 (4 celebrity/non-models)
• Total White models: 109 (11 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 16 (4 celebrity/non-models)

TOTAL MODELS: 143
TOTAL ADS: 151

Fashion Spreads:
• Total Black models: 0
• Total White models: 5
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 1

TOTAL MODELS: 6
TOTAL FASHION SPREADS: 3

Cosmopolitan:
Advertisements:
• Total Asian models: 0
• Total Black models: 15 (7 celebrity/non-models)
• Total White models: 80 (12 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 9 (2 celebrity/non-models)

TOTAL MODELS: 104
TOTAL ADS: 109

Fashion Spreads:
• Total Asian models: 0
• Total Black models: 0
• Total White models: 2 (1 celebrity/non-model)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 0

TOTAL MODELS: 2
TOTAL FASHION SPREADS: 2

Glamour:
Advertisements:
• Total Asian models: 2 (1 celebrity/non-model)
• Total Black models: 14 (4 celebrity/non-models)
• Total White models: 91 (12 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 10 (2 celebrity/non-models)

TOTAL MODELS: 117
TOTAL ADS: 115

Fashion Spreads:
• Total Asian models: 0
• Total Black models: 0
• Total White models: 4 (2 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 1

TOTAL MODELS: 5
TOTAL FASHION SPREADS: 4

Allure:
Advertisements:
• Total Asian models: 0
• Total Black models: 15 (3 celebrity/non-models)
• Total White models: 69 (9 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 12 (3 celebrity/non-models)

TOTAL MODELS: 96
TOTAL ADS: 81

Fashion Spreads:
• Total Asian models: 0
• Total Black models: 0
• Total White models: 4
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 1

TOTAL MODELS: 5
TOTAL FASHION SPREADS: 5

Teen Vogue:
Advertisements:
• Total Asian models: 3
• Total Black models: 14 (4 celebrity/non-models)
• Total White models: 83 (13 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 7 (3 celebrity/non-models)

TOTAL MODELS: 74
TOTAL ADS: 94

Fashion Spreads:
• Total Asian models: 1
• Total Black models: 0
• Total White models: 2
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 1 (1 celebrity/non-model)

TOTAL MODELS: 4
TOTAL FASHION SPREADS: 4

Marie Claire:
Advertisements:
• Total Asian models: 3 (1 celebrity/non-model)
• Total Black models: 8 (1 celebrity/non-model)
• Total White models: 70 (7 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 13 (7 celebrity/non-models)

TOTAL MODELS: 94
TOTAL ADS: 102

Fashion Spreads:
• Total Asian models: 0
• Total Black models: 0
• Total White models: 3
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 1 (1 celebrity/non-model)

TOTAL MODELS: 4
TOTAL FASHION SPREADS: 5

Harper's Bazaar:
Advertisements:
• Total Asian models: 3 (1 celebrity/non-model)
• Total Black models: 6 (1 celebrity/ non-model)
• Total White models: 140 (13 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 14 (5 celebrity/non-models)

TOTAL MODELS: 163
TOTAL ADS: 152

Fashion Spreads:
• Total Asian models: 2
• Total Black models: 3
• Total White models: 14
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 0

TOTAL MODELS: 19
TOTAL FASHION SPREADS: 12

Elle:
Advertisements:
• Total Asian models: 4
• Total Black models: 14 (6 celebrity/non-models)
• Total White models: 187 (12 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 16 (4 celebrity/non-models)

TOTAL MODELS: 221
TOTAL ADS: 205

Fashion Spreads:
• Total Asian models: 0
• Total Black models: 1
• Total White models: 9 (2 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 1 (1 celebrity/non-model)

TOTAL MODELS: 11
TOTAL FASHION SPREADS: 9

Vogue:
Advertisements:
• Total Asian models: 7 (2 celebrity/non-models)
• Total Black models: 9 (1 celebrity/non-model)
• Total White models: 236 (14 celebrity non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 9 (3 celebrity/non-models)

TOTAL MODELS: 261
TOTAL ADS: 214

Fashion Spreads:
• Total Asian models: 0
• Total Black models: 0
• Total White models: 9 (1 celebrity/non-model)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 0

TOTAL MODELS: 9
TOTAL FASHION SPREADS: 7

Overall Totals:
Advertisements:
• Total Asian models: 24 (7 celebrity/non-models)
• Total Black models: 111 (31 celebrity/non-models)
• Total White models: 1,065 (93 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 106 (33 celebrity/non-models)

TOTAL MODELS: 1,273
TOTAL ADS: 1,223

Fashion Spreads:
• Total Asian models: 3
• Total Black models: 4
• Total White models: 38 (6 celebrity/non-models)
• Total ambiguous race/mixed race models: 6 (3 celebrity/non-models)

TOTAL MODELS: 65
TOTAL FASHION SPREADS: 51

This means that in advertising, out of 1,273 ads, if 24 Asian models were used, that is 1.8% Asian. And 111 black models might seem like a lot, but that's actually 8.7% black. 1,065 white models out of 1,273 ads means the ads were 83% white.

As for the fashion spreads, 3 Asian models out of 65 means 4.6% Asian representation. And despite the efforts of Bazaar, the models were only 6% black.

New Documentary Examines The Absence Of Black Models On The Fashion Runways

Tracie — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT

BET aired a documentary last week called Fashion Blackout, which explored the barriers that black models have broken, the roles they've played in the fashion industry, and why the hell more of them haven't been on the fashion runways as of late. As to that last issue, well, the models interviewed, for the most part, blamed the people casting the shows (the fashion designers and stylists), the designers blamed the agencies, and the agencies blamed the magazine editors (one rep says he has received casting instructions that specify "no black no Asian"). Unfortunately, Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley, one of the most powerful people of color in the fashion industry, had nothing to add to the "where are the black models" debate, other than to express his love of black beauty. Clip above.

Related: Fashion Blackout [BET]

Earlier: On The Runways Of Milan, Color Just Wasn't Considered Chic

Fashion Weak

Dodai — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:30:00 EST

Editorial assistant Maria tallied up the models of color at Paris Fashion Week, and, much like New York, London and Milan, the runways were pretty white. Here are how some of the most influential designers cast their shows: Ann Demeulemeester: 29 models, all white. Balenciaga: 34 models; 2 dark-haired Spaniards, zero black, zero Asian. Celine: 42 models; 1 Asian, zero black. Chanel: 36 models; 2 Asian, zero black. Chloe: 28 models; 2 Asian, 1 dark-haired Spanish, zero black. Christian Dior: 58 models; 1 Asian, 1 black. Christian Lacroix: 30 models; zero Asian, zero black, 1 indigenous Brazilian. Jean Paul Gaultier: 36 models; 2 Asian, 2 black, 1 Latina (Omahyra). John Galliano: 52 models, 1 Asian, 1 black. Louis Vuitton: 49 models; 2 Asian, 2 black, 1 indigenous Brazilian. Vivienne Westwood: 25 models; 2 Asian, 5 black, 1 Latina. Yohji Yamamoto: 25 models, 1 Asian, zero black. Junya Watanabe avoided the blatant runway racism by covering all his models' faces with pieces of black fabric. That's one way to deal with it!

[Image from Vivienne Westwood's show via Getty.]

Modeling Matriarch Continues To Demand Diversity On The Runways

dodai — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:00:00 EST

Last night, five months following her first event about the lack of diversity in fashion, model-agency owner Bethann Hardison held a similar gathering with the stated goal of examining why models of color are in such short supply on the fashion industry's runways and magazine editorials. (The attention to the issue seems to be growing: At a September event called "The Lack Of The Black Image In Fashion Today", 70 people, including Naomi Campbell, showed up; Hardison's second symposium, held in October at the New York Public Library, drew 275, and last night, a group of around 200 were on hand.) Ms. Hardison (seen above left between Campbell and Iman) began yesterday's proceedings by addressing the crowd — a motley crew of models, journalists, designers, stylists and industry insiders — saying when it comes to a lack of diversity on the high fashion runways, "All of us are responsible."

Ms. Hardison then read a statement from Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley, who could not attend because he was in Chicago in conjunction with the Barack Obama campaign. (Talley was assisting with making phone calls to voters in South Carolina in support of Mr. Obama.) Talley's message was eloquent and impassioned, beginning with the fact that black people first arrived in this country as cargo and that it's been a battle for them in the hundreds of years since. He stated: "This struggle is so important to all of us... They will say this is not an issue, but it is..." Borrowing from the Obama slogan, Mr. Talley wrote that "Change we can believe in has to happen."

Next up were freelance creative director James Scully (who has worked for Tom Ford and Harper's Bazaar) and Nian Fish, creative director of KCD, the pr/event production firm responsible for many of the top runway shows. As he did in October, Mr. Scully blamed Prada for the influx of "15-year-old Russian girls" on the runway, a look he claimed other designers copied and fashion people got accustomed to seeing and not critiquing. Ms. Fish pointed to the early '90s, when many British designers and stylists came to the U.S. with a certain aesthetic and wanted only white models. She stated that she had been privy to conversations with designers and stylists who would literally say, "we already have one of those" when pointing to a black model as an excuse not to hire another.

Many other people spoke: model Lily Taylor said that when she started in the business at 15, her agency wanted her to get a nose job and she refused. Another model from Ethiopia claimed that she attended the Ford Supermodel Of The World event and saw that 80% of the models chosen were white or Eastern European. Harriet Cole of Ebony magazine pointed out that models are supposed to reflect the world and that fashion is global. "With the political season upon us, if the globe doesn't recognize black people, what does that say?" she asked, rhetorically.

A man named Roman Young from Elite Model Management, hails from Hawaii and said that the modeling agencies cannot bear all of the blame. "When a client says 'I want the girl next door,' I say 'The girl next door to who?'" Mr. Young told the crowd. Model Jessica White, who recently inked a deal with Maybelline, said that celebrities are taking the spots of many black models — after all why should marketeres get a model for their advertisements when they can get Beyoncé or Halle Berry? But, Ms. Hardison countered, neither Beyoncé nor Halle Berry ever walk the runways in Milan or Paris. Veteran model Coco Mitchell suggested that black people not purchase items from designers who do not use black models and pointed out that neither Prada nor Jil Sander ever do. Damon Dash spoke of his transition from music to fashion with wife Rachel Roy and said, "We gotta watch each others' backs." And Mr. Scully suggested the group start shopping at the Gap as Patrick Robinson is now the head designer.

Ms Hardison reminded the audience that the issue of the lack of black models is not about creating an all-black runway but diversity. "I'm not trying to tell anyone what to do," she continued. "I'm just trying to raise consciousness. We can make a change just by being here."

Ealier: Is Prada To Blame For the Lack Of Black Models?
Black Fashion Industry Insiders Ask: Where Are The Black Models?
Where Are All The Black Models? Let's Start By Asking Anna Wintour