Models and agencies lift the lid on "Whites Only" policy.

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THEY SAY that the proof is in the pudding but in this case, the proof is on the catwalk.

 Once again Fashion Week has come and gone around the world and there is still a lack of melanin on the runway.
 
Despite all the hot discussions regarding discrimination in the fashion world, there has been little improvement. The usual token “black cats” were repetitively used throughout New York, London, Paris and Milan.
 
Some hoped that the success of the July 2008 issue of Italia Vogue, considered the world’s ‘fashion bible’, would have had a positive influence on greater exposure for black models. The Italia Vogue “Black” issue, already considered a collector’s item, featured nothing but black models.
 
However, the “Black Vogue” phenomenon garnered huge buzz, and little else.

 “Paris casting agents drop black girls like they’re hot,” claimed eighteen-year-old Gaye McDonald, one of Jamaica’s leading supermodel’s who was featured in the Italia Vogue issue. “It is well known that if you are black you have to step to the back unless you are one of their favorites.”
 
“The world is not white, so why should catwalks only feature white models?”, added the 5’9” stunner with flawless skin who is the current face of United Colors of Benetton. “Although the ‘all-black Vogue’ was a nice gesture, the editor’s attempt to bridge the gap between black and white models on the catwalk, is equivalent to a drop in the ocean.”
 
Supermodel Naomi Campbell has consistently criticized magazine editors.
 
“Black models are being sidelined by the major modeling agencies,” Campbell stated. “I hardly come on the front pages of London’s Vogue magazine. Only white models, some of whom are not as prominent as I am, are put on the front pages.”
 
The 37-year-old is contemplating setting up her own modelling agency in Kenya to address the imbalance.  “I don’t want to quit modelling until I find that black models get equal prominence and recognition by the world media and information instruments,” Campbell said. “Women of color are not a trend.”

Fashion insiders claim there are now fewer black models seen on ramps and in fashion magazines than there were in the 1990s.  Of the 100 plus shows and presentations held during the 2008 fashion weeks in London, Paris, Milan and New York, more than a third did not feature any black models.

Elite Model Management in the UK, which discovered Naomi Campbell, has only two black models. “It makes you feel very uncomfortable and you begin to question yourself as to say ‘what’s wrong with me?” said McDonald. “But, I have to always remember where I’m coming from in order to feel proud about myself, despite being rejected due to the color of my skin.”

Carole White, co-founder of Premier Model Management, which supplies models to top fashion brands, admitted that finding work for black clients was significantly harder than for the white models, because both magazines and fashion designers were reluctant to employ them.  “Sadly we are in the business where you stock your shelves with what sells,” said White. “Black models don’t sell. People don’t tend to talk about it, but black models have to be so beautiful and perfect because we can’t have a lot of diversity with black models.”

Maya Schulz, the co-founder of British modeling agency, Acclaim Models, agrees.   “I have had endless casting briefs which say ‘no ethnics’, which in my view is blatant racism,” Schulz said. “When putting forward my models for casting for London Fashion Week this year, my business partner and I were told over and over again that designers were not looking to use black or Asian models. 

“I have been told outright by a designer, ‘please do not send me any black models as they do not suit my clothes’.  I have also been told that black models do not know how to carry themselves in a high fashion manner, which is utter rubbish. We all know how elegant and graceful Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell and Alex Wek are.”  Schulz currently represents Jasmia Robinson and Sarah Butler who became household names on Britain’s Next Top Model.   “When Jasmia attended a casting for London Fashion Week, we were told by a very famous designer that she looks like a monkey,” said Schulz.

“I felt sick,” said Robinson. “How can someone say I look like a monkey? This is the typical type of racism that black and mixed race girls often experience and it’s wrong. Fashion decision makers always say that black girls don’t sell their designs or products, but why don’t they prove it by putting it to the test?  They won’t because their excuses are based on lies.”

One designer, Gavin Douglas, is attempting to end the racial divide on the catwalk.  “The shortage of black models signed to modelling agencies is very obvious. Very rarely do I come across black models, which is why this year I went out of my way to seek and find,” said Douglas.  Douglas’ designs are exclusively sold in Harrods – the largest department store in the world – and he has dressed stars like Kelly Rowland from Destiny’s Child and Nia Long.

“There should not be a color issue within the fashion industry because designers like myself dress the world’s population, which should be reflected on the catwalk,” he said.  “The fact that the fashion industry does not have a fair cultural and racial representation on the catwalk, magazines and on billboards raises serious societal problems that need to be addressed.”

This story is filed under: Arts & Culture

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