Using all black models has now become to lazy way to get attention in the fashion industry. Menswear designer Carlos Campos will unveil his first women's collection on September 7th in New York.He has shared that his inspiration for the show is the jet set glamourous lifestyle of iconic model Iman and her rocker husband David Bowie.
Sigh. Why not just use black, or other non-white models, because they are beautiful and look great in the clothes?
It's sad that those in the industry have interpreted the success of Vogue Italia as merely a publicity stunt and not the desire of fashion consumers to see more racial diversity in this once groundbreaking industry.
Even Campos' muse Iman expressed concern that black models would be seen as a gimmick after the publication of the July Vogue Italia.
Photo: DailyLife
ETA: Scriptgirl sent me a link to this article on issues of race and Fashion Week. It has a few good quotes from designers like Tracy Reese who remarked:
"I was pleasantly surprised this year. We're always calling up the agencies to say, 'We want to see black girls, Latinas, Asians, everything. ... There were a lot of new faces...For me, it's fun to see how different personalities enhance the clothes."
Designer Pamella Roland added, "Model casting has actually been easier this season. We're impressed by the sheer number and beauty of all ethnicities this time around. The only difficulty will be in choosing which girls we will ultimately cast."
2 comments:
*sigh* Give it a few months and black models will be off trend again and the big guns in fashion won't give a hoot. I really do hope that the efforts that Vogue are making to address the situation are sustained, sincere and that other people follow suit-but we all know how fickle fashion is.
Of course it's a stunt, but it just goes to show you that the designers are full of shit when they act like victims at the mercy of modeling agencies. How else do you explain that this man could populate his entire show with Black models that supposedly couldn't be found 6 months ago? Designers pay the agencies for a service, and their subsidy should be used as leverage to influence the quality of that service.
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