Wall Street Journal
September 15, 2008, 5:49 pm
Progress Report: Diversity on the Runway
Exactly one year and a day ago, a group of agents, casting directors, editors and designers got together to talk about the alarming lack of ethnic diversity on the runways at New York fashion week. This morning, as construction workers disassembled the tents at Bryant Park, many of the same people reconvened in the basement of the Bryant Park Hotel for a progress report.
Video: Designer Tracy Reese talks about race on the runway.
Bethann Hardison, a former model and agent who has been leading all of the discussions about race in the fashion industry, called the meeting a “report card.” (It is a testament to Ms. Hardison that practically nobody left the room during the discussion; it lasted two-and-a-half hours.)
The verdict? Change is in the air, but the industry still has a long way to go. “I did see a difference,” said casting director
Jen Starr. She said agencies have been spending more money scouting for ethnic models because, in a more inclusive environment, it is becoming easier for them to find work. The change has left many young models of color feeling more confident. “It makes you feel good that you’re wanted,” said
Joan Smalls, who appeared on the runways of
Oscar de la Renta and others, and is currently featured in an ad campaign for the fashion label
Ports 1961.
Ms. Hardison urged the crowd to “call out who’s been good and who’s been bad, who’s been naughty and who’s been nice.”
Bethann Hardison. Courtesy: Ms. Hardison.
Oscar de la Renta and Ralph Lauren were praised as “nice.” They set the tone this season in promoting a more diverse vision of beauty, Ms. Hardison said. Mr. de la Renta, who opened and closed his show with a Dominican model named
Arlenis Sosa, was an example of a designer “getting engaged with the fashion model again,” said Ms. Hardison, who admired the way all the models put their hands on their hips, tossed their jackets and walked with confidence in an “old school” way.
The “surprise of the week,” Ms. Hardison said, “was the genius of Ralph Lauren.” He used five dark-skinned models—as opposed to two last season—and closed his show with a Somalian model named
Ubah. Another black model Mr. Lauren used, named
Aminata, was “a great success story this season,” said
Ivan Bart, a top agent at
IMG Models. She was discovered on the streets of Paris by
Lanvin designer
Alber Elbaz, but didn’t break through in the American market until this season.
Among those in the “naughty” column was the design house of
Badgley Mischka, which used no black models, a move that Ms. Hardison attributed to “ignorance and stubbornness.” A spokesman for Badgley Mischka says that the design house had “second options” on three black models–meaning that another design house already claimed the right of first refusal for the same time slot. Unfortunately, the spokesman said, “we didn’t get them. It was not intentional.”
Kyle Hagler, an agent at IMG Models, remarked that he still received emails from casting directors offering lower fees to black models than to white or Asian models of comparable experience. “If somebody is proposing that someone be paid less than she is worth, I will counter that,” said Mr. Hagler, in a conversation after the meeting. “I think that everybody should be paid according to their experience, not the color of their skin.”
Although IMG’s Mr. Bart said he was pleased with the progress that had been made over the past year “it’s got to go beyond the runways.”
Italian Vogue published an
all-black issue this summer, but the fashion advertising inside the magazine featured almost entirely white models. “Let’s not forget about the advertising season, and how many of these models are going to translate off the runway and into prestigious campaigns,” Mr. Bart said. –
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