Models of color

[BriannaHope]

I know there is a lot of controversy going around about this.I need to see a rainbow of colors on the runway,and I don't mean the clothes.See I'm an African-American girl who needs to see more color.I mean Blacks,Hispanics,Asians,Mediterranians,Native Americans,and Brazilians need to be on that runway.I'm tired of seeing girls that look the exact same.I don't mean kick those blondes with blue eyes of the runway.I just want it to have equal opportunities.Most people that buy Gucci,Prada,Marc Jacobs,and others are women of color.One fashion designer even said he'd rather have a runway with color.What do you think about the situation?

[BriannaHope]

No one has any thoughts?

[happycanadian2]

i completely agree that a runway of colour is FAR more beautiful! the amount of TREMENDOUSLY successful models-of-colour is shockingly small compared to the white counterparts. but everythign goes in waves. the Brazilians had their wave a few years ago. and now it's the turn of the odd-looking, eastern europeans. but it can't just be simplified down to trend, because people of colour have always had a disproportionately small presence on the runways and in advertisements especially.

i believe that the reason for this is not so much due to blatant racism .. but more to the ideas of the business people at the top of the industry. they believe that European people will buy products which are modeled by people who either ARE European ... or look like that could be. also -- the enormous Asian markets consume huge amounts of western fashion products. but, *trying not to generalize too much here*, they have a very eurocentric idea of what constitutes beauty. it may sound odd, but just flip through an issue of Vogue Nippon and you'll see what i mean. go to Tokyo fashion week and see how many blonde haired, blue eyed models are in the shows and book campaigns. ALOT. the Indian market is huge enough on its own to use it's own faces and models predominantly. but basically -- i think that's what it comes down to. $$$ and as sad as it is, the suits presume that a model of colour just doesn't sell as well cross-culturally as a European looking one. there is really a tremendously low population of blacks/indians/latinos in eastern asia (Japan, Korea, China) -- so using them in advertisements just doesn't work. it would be like using Du Juan in a campaign in Zaire. and there is also a small number of people of colour living in northern and eastern europe and in scandinavia. the "exotic appeal" might work .. or someone like Naomi (*because she's truly INTERNATIONALLY famous*), so the fashion houses use models that they believe have a more generic appeal. someone like Gisele. she could be from Spain. or Canada. or England, Brazil, Italy, Russia ... who knows? and that has lent itself favourably to her career.

i don't know what the answer is. to me -- i love seeing black models and asians and whatever other mix there could be. and i really really am sick of this current trend of BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH models. all boring.

[BriannaHope]

i completely agree that a runway of colour is FAR more beautiful! the amount of TREMENDOUSLY successful models-of-colour is shockingly small compared to the white counterparts. but everythign goes in waves. the Brazilians had their wave a few years ago. and now it's the turn of the odd-looking, eastern europeans. but it can't just be simplified down to trend, because people of colour have always had a disproportionately small presence on the runways and in advertisements especially.

i believe that the reason for this is not so much due to blatant racism .. but more to the ideas of the business people at the top of the industry. they believe that European people will buy products which are modeled by people who either ARE European ... or look like that could be. also -- the enormous Asian markets consume huge amounts of western fashion products. but, *trying not to generalize too much here*, they have a very eurocentric idea of what constitutes beauty. it may sound odd, but just flip through an issue of Vogue Nippon and you'll see what i mean. go to Tokyo fashion week and see how many blonde haired, blue eyed models are in the shows and book campaigns. ALOT. the Indian market is huge enough on its own to use it's own faces and models predominantly. but basically -- i think that's what it comes down to. $$$ and as sad as it is, the suits presume that a model of colour just doesn't sell as well cross-culturally as a European looking one. there is really a tremendously low population of blacks/indians/latinos in eastern asia (Japan, Korea, China) -- so using them in advertisements just doesn't work. it would be like using Du Juan in a campaign in Zaire. and there is also a small number of people of colour living in northern and eastern europe and in scandinavia. the "exotic appeal" might work .. or someone like Naomi (*because she's truly INTERNATIONALLY famous*), so the fashion houses use models that they believe have a more generic appeal. someone like Gisele. she could be from Spain. or Canada. or England, Brazil, Italy, Russia ... who knows? and that has lent itself favourably to her career.

i don't know what the answer is. to me -- i love seeing black models and asians and whatever other mix there could be. and i really really am sick of this current trend of BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH models. all boring.

[BriannaHope]

i completely agree that a runway of colour is FAR more beautiful! the amount of TREMENDOUSLY successful models-of-colour is shockingly small compared to the white counterparts. but everythign goes in waves. the Brazilians had their wave a few years ago. and now it's the turn of the odd-looking, eastern europeans. but it can't just be simplified down to trend, because people of colour have always had a disproportionately small presence on the runways and in advertisements especially.

i believe that the reason for this is not so much due to blatant racism .. but more to the ideas of the business people at the top of the industry. they believe that European people will buy products which are modeled by people who either ARE European ... or look like that could be. also -- the enormous Asian markets consume huge amounts of western fashion products. but, *trying not to generalize too much here*, they have a very eurocentric idea of what constitutes beauty. it may sound odd, but just flip through an issue of Vogue Nippon and you'll see what i mean. go to Tokyo fashion week and see how many blonde haired, blue eyed models are in the shows and book campaigns. ALOT. the Indian market is huge enough on its own to use it's own faces and models predominantly. but basically -- i think that's what it comes down to. $$$ and as sad as it is, the suits presume that a model of colour just doesn't sell as well cross-culturally as a European looking one. there is really a tremendously low population of blacks/indians/latinos in eastern asia (Japan, Korea, China) -- so using them in advertisements just doesn't work. it would be like using Du Juan in a campaign in Zaire. and there is also a small number of people of colour living in northern and eastern europe and in scandinavia. the "exotic appeal" might work .. or someone like Naomi (*because she's truly INTERNATIONALLY famous*), so the fashion houses use models that they believe have a more generic appeal. someone like Gisele. she could be from Spain. or Canada. or England, Brazil, Italy, Russia ... who knows? and that has lent itself favourably to her career.

i don't know what the answer is. to me -- i love seeing black models and asians and whatever other mix there could be. and i really really am sick of this current trend of BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH models. all boring.

everything you said was true...but in England about 34% of the people are not white.I just wish it was different.We all buy things.And if the races that are not on the runway didn't buy the clothes these designers would be poor.And The highest selling Vogue surprisingly had Liya Kebede on the cover.But the Vogue Nippon is so true.

anybody else?