No Black Models : Only All White Models Need Apply...

French Vogue Photographs Models In Black Face

 
While Black models continue to complain of their exclusion from major magazines and runway shoots over a year after this issue was brought to light. (see "Crossing The Thin White Line"below) 

Its seems not much has changed and maybe its gotten worse, since Vogue, in its October issue, would rather paint white models black, than hire Black models. Until Black women refuse to buy the cloths of designers who don't include Black models, and better yet, choose to buy the clothing of more Black Clothing Designers, this racism will continue. Black consumers in America alone in 2011 spent over $60 billion on clothing. Your money can speak much louder than your words.

Crossing Fashion's Thin White Line

Criticism About a Lack of Ethnic Diversity on Runways Puts Attention on Casting Directors

By RACHEL DODES
February 1, 2008

Earlier this week, fashion designer Peter Som and casting director Jennifer Venditti stood in his office studying five photos of pale, thin teenage girls with dirty-blond hair.

"Weird," said Mr. Som, scanning the teens in the photos. "They're all the same."

Ms. Venditti, who is hired by designers to cast models for their fashion shows, noted that "there are so many of these types. You could do a whole show with them." She advised Mr. Som to pick no more than two of the five blondes to appear in his fashion show Monday.

Amid recent public criticism about the lack of ethnic diversity on fashion runways, the role of casting director is drawing more attention as New York's fashion week gets under way today. In the past, designers chose the models themselves. But now that designers are required to produce multiple collections, make media appearances and court celebrities, the job of casting director is usually outsourced to specialists like Ms. Venditti. Her specialty: navigating models' competing schedules, negotiating with frantic designers and fighting with agents.

Bethann Hardison, a former model who has been organizing efforts to raise awareness about the lack of color among runway models, says the growing power of casting directors, many of whom cast multiple shows, is part of the problem. "Everybody gets into this Stepford Wives mentality," says Ms. Hardison, a black woman who modeled in the '70s, when there was a big demand for black models. She notes that designers now all are looking to hire many of the same models, who tend to be white and very thin.

In response to the recent exposure of the issue in the media after Ms. Hardison's efforts, the Council of Fashion Designers of America has been lobbying designers to hire a broader range of models this fashion week. In a letter sent to designers, modeling agents and casting directors on Jan. 9, CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg encouraged industry players to create fashion shows "that are truly multicultural" and to embrace "whole groups of people no matter their race or color," according to a copy of the letter. Steven Kolb, the CFDA's executive director, said, "We are reminding people of positive behavior."

Just who is responsible for diversity on the runway depends on whom you ask. Casting directors say they work for the designers, so if the designers decide ethnic models don't fit their aesthetic, they don't hire them. Designers gripe that they would use more minority models, but the agencies don't send any "good" ones. And the modeling agencies say they aren't scouting and developing many minority models because the market hasn't been demanding their services.

A designer's goal with an expensive fashion show is to keep attention on his or her clothes, not the models. That's why, many designers privately explain, they don't like to hire distinctive-looking models, either ethnically or otherwise. But the public concern has put so much pressure on the industry that some say they have to change.

"The tricky thing about this business is that [designers and casting directors] can always say it's a matter of personal and aesthetic freedom," says Roman Young, an agent at Elite Model Management. "You wonder, 'Are they racist or are they just dumb?'" Mr. Young says he hasn't been aggressively scouting models of color because, until now, designers haven't demanded them. Very young, newly scouted models are highly in demand every season since the market likes fresh, unknown faces.

African-American models like Iman and Naomi Campbell broke through the race barrier long ago. And several Asian, Latina and black models routinely appear on the runways. Chanel Iman, a 16-year-old black model, is particularly in demand this season

But nearly everyone in the fashion industry acknowledges that minority representation on the runways, as well as in high-fashion advertising, doesn't approximate the general population. The lack of minorities in high fashion contrasts with a noticeable increase in the casting of ethnic models in print and TV commercials, as well as in television and movies.

For casting director Ms. Venditti, the recent conversations about ethnicity have emboldened her to push harder for diversity this season. When one of her client's stylists said she didn't need to book a second black model because they already had one, Ms. Venditti says she told her, "They're both beautiful. Why can't you have two?"

At Mr. Som's casting call this week, he explained that his fall collection was inspired by the social outcasts captured in the photographs of Diane Arbus. He was seeking models with a "loopy and loony" vibe, he said.

After casting the two blondes, Mr. Som asked Ms. Venditti how many ethnic models were on the roster. She told him there were four -- two black and two Asian -- out of a then-selected cast of 18. "I do not want an all-white cast," he says. "But there's always room for improvement."

Ms. Venditti, now 35 years old, once modeled in a fashion show for the local Saks Fifth Avenue near where she grew up. But when a scout from the John Casablancas modeling school began calling her house and leaving messages, she never returned the calls, explaining now that she preferred to be in charge of shaping the image, not the image itself. She moved to New York, working first at KCD, a fashion-show production company and then as a free-lance stylist.

She started her own company, JV8 Inc., in 1998. For her first casting job, she found a homeless woman and a local band for a photo shoot in W magazine. Advertisers like Gap and Benetton began calling to request her services.

Ms. Venditti quickly developed a reputation for finding unusual characters for modeling jobs. For a photo shoot in Detroit, fashion photographer Bruce Weber asked Ms. Venditti to bring him a local guy to appear alongside supermodel Kate Moss in a fashion spread for W magazine's September 2006 issue. Ms. Venditti camped outside a high-school prom at Detroit's Lewis Cass Technical High School. The following morning, she presented Mr. Weber with photos of a tall Puerto Rican student in a tuxedo. "I thought, 'Wow, this guy is so beautiful,'" Mr. Weber recalls. When Ms. Venditti informed him that the student was a female, Mr. Weber decided to use her in the shoot instead of a young man.

As for whether the industry will ever change, Ms. Venditti says it's all about whether racial diversity becomes the latest fashion trend. "In general, [the industry] is a bunch of followers," she says. But "the conversation has started."

According to Target Market News, African American's alone spend over $22 Billion yearly on clothing. This doesn't include money spent by other minority groups. If you stop buying from designers who don't include models of color in their runway presentations and all of their advertising, I'm sure we would see an immediate change. Its up to you. What do you think....

See  What Naomi Campbell says out about the white wash.

Comments

[Keturah]

I believe that if more of my own would except the fact the our Lord and Savior was a black man then maybe we could except each other better just as he excepted and gave his life for us. I am COPTIC, we believe in I AM THAT I AM and his son Black JEsus. We always say we want people to know the truth but so many of us hide the fact that we know the truth. I am going to start with me. I am going to tell everybody I know the truth, whether they accept it or not I am going to tell them. thank you so much for this blog.

[Anna Marie]

I see there is so much more reading I will be doing on your blog. I'm more than willing to do so and will return to read and learn more, thank you for that opportunity.

[Alexander Blake]

Why does it matter what color you believe Jesus was? Isn't this just promoting racism?

[Charles]

No Alexander, it's promoting racism when there is a cover up of the truth. When a false image is presented as the truth.
When people refuse to accept the truth in
the face of biblical and scientific proof.

[Alexander Blake]

There is no scientific proof that Jesus ever existed, let alone the color of his skin.

[Charles]

Alexander, I guess since your website says you are an athiest, in the face of the facts, you would now rather believe Jesus did not exist. That's your prerogative.