Fade to White
Manolo says, you must go look at this posting from the Coveted. It is based on last week’s article in the New York Times about the lack of black models on the runways of this seasons New York fashion week shows.
Here is the excerpt from the Times.
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.
The article is quite good and not the little disturbing and depressing, and thus it is well worth the reading.
What Jennine at the Coveted has done is gather together the head shots of the models from the runway shows, and in so doing has dramatically shown that the look of the moment is very pale, young, skinny, and blond. But when has it not always been thus?
Actually, I think The Coveted copied Bryan Boy’s blog article on this topic which was posted a day earlier than The Coveted and with 48 head shots against The Coveted’s 30.
http://www.bryanboy.com/bryanboy_le_superstar_fab/2007/10/token-ching-cho.html#more
Great catch, Jane.
And if you factor in the time zone difference, Bryan Boy actually blogged about this on October 15 (in the USA). :-)
This quote, from the Time article, sums the problem up nicely: “The current taste in models is for blank-featured “androids,” whose looks don’t offer much competition to the clothes, pointed out James Scully, a seasoned agent who made his mark casting the richly diverse Gucci shows in the heyday of Tom Ford.”
Indeed. I remember thinking after seeing the photos of the shows that it appeared designers are going through another “living mannequin” phase. Anything other than a pale blonde upsets the flow, in their limited view. Personally, I can’t wait for things to switch, as I find the blonde android march gloomy, disheartening, and not that great for the clothes. Isn’t it to everyone’s benefit to show the clothes on the model that suits them best? And wouldn’t that be easier if you had some different shapes or skin tones to work with?
Uh, so?
There are also exactly zero middle-aged, plump women of any race included. Seeing as that demographic makes up much of the female clothing buying public, I find that much more disturbing.