I don't want to be contrary, but am feel very cynical.
It is strange that everyone thinks the fashion industry has some deeper, moralistic or aesthetic aim. Fashion is a business, just like selling lamps or cars. The only difference is that they try to sell you clothing on the basis that they are "beautiful" and trendy.
That being said, do business men have a moral obligation to represent a wide variety of races in their ads or services? Most people would say no. Businesses are not humanitarian projects - their primary objective is to make money, not to jeopardize their business with daring politically-correct moves. A smart business man could tap into that market to broaden his clientele.
So, I feel very ambivalent about the "race issue" in fashion. Do I REALLY want race to be commodified and packaged, like the United Benneton ads? I know this is a lot more than just commercializing race (diversity, providing role models, stressing that beauty is not always white, etc) but it seems like this is a very strange battle to fight.
@eri401: This is for more than the public's benefit, which, as a woman of color, is plenty important to me(Those Benetton ads meant the world to me when I was a teenager). This is also a labor issue for models who are facing legal racial discrimination.
Hey, designers, if you want us to focus just on the clothes, then a)start adding more diversity to your runway shows so that we aren't distracted by all the monochromatic models who make us wonder where all the black and latin girls are; b)stop casting girls who's ribs are completely visible, because that doesn't make me think of buying your clothes, it makes me angry that you're promoting hyperthinness and ultimately death. A beautiful girl who knows how to walk will sell an outift or a product. After seeing this picture of Chanel Iman, I totally want that eyeshadow. Get it?
@stealthird: My first thought in seeing the photo was damn - can I wear my eyeshadow all the way to my brows like that, too? Because she makes it look gorgeous.
I'm still confused as to why designers can justify using waif-thin models (not to mention 16-year-olds- that's how old Chanel was when she started) because 'that's what people want' and it's 'how the clothing needs to be presented' but if they say the same thing about skin tone they're called out by - of all people - models.
Beautiful girl. And she's right, it isn't fair, and is largely motivated by designer ego and an almost complete ambivalence to change in the fashion industry.
A nitpicky point, though: does anyone else cringe when people use "ethnic" as a noun and not the adjective it was intended to be?
@pandorasmittens: As an "ethnic" myself, I hate that word. I loathe being described as "exotic" too. I don't care that it's meant as a compliment, it's othering.
Ah, and even if the logic of the designers to have homogeneous models showing off the clothes on the runway could make sense at ALL, it doesn't really explain why they have to be all white. Also, you'd think the reverse logic would apply to magazine covers, I mean, I would definitely be more likely to notice a cover with Chanel on it than just another white girl, probably especially because I am just another white girl, so her look would stand out to me even more, as unique. Good luck to her, she's gorgeous!
Interesting how designer ego comes in to play -- more white models available, so use all white models, so no one notices the models so it's all about the clothes and the designer.
Sad and probably very true (and maybe unconscious).
@nyc-caribbean-ragazza: I have known a disturbing number of Chanels. Particularly French Canadians. I kind of don't like it, personally. Sure, fashion is cooler than food, but to my mind it's a lot like naming your son Kraft, because you like their Mac and Cheese(or perhaps more truthfully because you know that they happen to make Mac and Cheese, 'cause I doubt the Mamas of some of the Chanels I knew could actually identify a Chanel garment). Please, parents of the world, don't use your children as advertisments for a company that isn't paying you or them.
She looks like someone and I can't quite put my finger on it...But yay for her for speaking up for ALL minority models and not just black ones. I hope she takes her frustration and tries to change the industry some.
She is so beautiful, and damn right about the state of modelling and the horrible motivation behind the choices of models.
What depresses me, too, is that even within the confines of white models, those who get picked are incredibly homogenous. They do look all the same, more or less. Depressing.
@Charlie Walls: Maybe not to that extent, but I've heard comments LIKE it. Like "I don't care if you're white black or purple. I mean, I voted for Obama." Generally, it's people who think they are more open-minded and liberal than they are using Obama's election to justify their sense that black people are crying victim, which is just ridic.
@Charlie Walls: God yes, they do. I was watching the inauguration coverage and Orrin Hatch (yeah, i know he's a nut, but he's a public spokesperson) said something like "this is a monumental day, in one fell swoop we have made up for all the years of racism in our country" These were CLOSE to his exact words, and I was horrified. How could he think something so idiotic and reductive? But then I remembered it's Orrin Hatch.
@Charlie Walls: I'm not sure if it was Time or US News and World Report, but last week they briefly had a blog post titled, "Racism is Over." I can't find it now.
with diversity such an issue right now, it gets talked about when all the models look the same but it get's talked about negatively. you'd think that the designers don't want the negativity associated with their lines.
when there is diversity it's talked about in a positive way so you'd think that would help a designer.
i don't know much about fashion or its universe, but that's how it seems to me, as an outsider.
@BrutallyHonestBabes: You hit the nail on the head. The more I learn about fashion, the less happy I am to constantly see celebrities on the covers of magazines. I guess I kind of think of fashion spreads as a form of art, and for me when it's a celeb and not a model on the cover it diminishes the artistic value. I don't know why I think that, though...
@sarah.of.a.lesser.god (2009: a space ovumlord): I was thinking that too. Name your kid that, and she only has one choice for occupation. Kindof like if you name your kid Einstein Tesla - guaranteed sciency goodness.
@so5minutesago: i agree. i think they are beautiful, but i never think 'exotic' when i see them. maybe as a white person, i just assume they are white.
@solaana: It's a mixed bag with the Brazilians because the countru is so ethnically diverse. The girls that really made it (Giselle, Raquel, Adriana, Alessandra) have European backgrounds. Perhaps Chanel was referring to the Brazilian girls of African or "native*" decent.
01/23/09
It is strange that everyone thinks the fashion industry has some deeper, moralistic or aesthetic aim. Fashion is a business, just like selling lamps or cars. The only difference is that they try to sell you clothing on the basis that they are "beautiful" and trendy.
That being said, do business men have a moral obligation to represent a wide variety of races in their ads or services? Most people would say no. Businesses are not humanitarian projects - their primary objective is to make money, not to jeopardize their business with daring politically-correct moves. A smart business man could tap into that market to broaden his clientele.
So, I feel very ambivalent about the "race issue" in fashion. Do I REALLY want race to be commodified and packaged, like the United Benneton ads? I know this is a lot more than just commercializing race (diversity, providing role models, stressing that beauty is not always white, etc) but it seems like this is a very strange battle to fight.
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A nitpicky point, though: does anyone else cringe when people use "ethnic" as a noun and not the adjective it was intended to be?
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Sad and probably very true (and maybe unconscious).
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@RoxNminral: Hee! I'm in your brain, is why. I'll probably change it again soon.
01/23/09
What depresses me, too, is that even within the confines of white models, those who get picked are incredibly homogenous. They do look all the same, more or less. Depressing.
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with diversity such an issue right now, it gets talked about when all the models look the same but it get's talked about negatively. you'd think that the designers don't want the negativity associated with their lines.
when there is diversity it's talked about in a positive way so you'd think that would help a designer.
i don't know much about fashion or its universe, but that's how it seems to me, as an outsider.
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*for lack of a better term