Runways Fade to White

A New York Times article titled "Ignoring Diversity, Runways Fade to White" discussed how fewer and fewer designers are featuring black models on their runways during Fashion Weeks - we're talking around the world, not just New York. Here's an exerpt:


"Nowadays the cultural landscape is well populated with actors, musicians, media moguls and candidates for the American presidency drawn from the 30 percent of the American population that is not white. Yet, if there is one area where the lessons of chromatic and racial diversity have gone largely unheeded, it is fashion. This reality was never plainer than during the recent showings of the women’s spring 2008 collections in New York and Europe.

Of the 101 shows and presentations posted on Style.com during the New York runway season, which ended a month ago, more than a third employed no black models, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Most of the others used just one or two. When the fashion caravan moved to London, Paris and Milan, the most influential shows — from Prada to Jil Sander to Balenciaga to Chloé and Chanel — made it appear as if someone had hung out a sign reading: No Blacks Need Apply."


This is disturbing on so many levels! I work at an online magazine geared at teenage girls, and my job is to report on fashion and beauty trends. It sickens me that I can so rarely speak to my own because there aren't enough images of us...


Click here to read the entire article and tell me your thoughts on why we're so often ignored in this market.