Is the Fashion Industry Racist?

October 11, 2007     Posted in Buzz, News, Style

00400m.jpg Everyone knows that the fashion industry can be bitchy, but now there are reports that it actually might be racist.


By Jess

UK magazine The Independent recently ran an article about the lack of black and minority models on the runway.

Dee Doocey, a former fashion manager who’s currently campaigning for diversity on the catwalk says she can’t remember “being sent a model who wasn’t white,” during her days in the field “I don’t know if it’s racism, or just the fashion industry languishing in the doldrums”, Doocey continues, “but it needs to change. Agencies only seem interested in leggy white blonde girls.”

While none-white people make up about “30 percent” of London’s population, they “don’t even make up 1 percent of the models”, a ratio that sounds like it might have a reflection in America as well.

One managing director at a London agency that specializes in ethnically diverse models illustrated the crux of the problem by explaining her difficulty in getting work for her black models.

“The racism you come across is not underlying, it’s blatant” she reveals, going on to say that “People will say things like ‘Don’t send any more black models’, and one designer even said black people didn’t suit his clothes. And we’re not talking about small designers here; it’s all the big ones.”

So not only does the industry want their models to be paper thin, they require them to be Aryan as well.

I’m sure there are people within the fashion world who fight for healthy and diverse models, but since racism and anorexia are still prevalent, those individuals have got to be in the minority.

People can defend the already self-important industry if they want, but as far as I’m concerned, intolerance ain’t pretty.

4 Comments on "Is the Fashion Industry Racist?"

  1. Esha says:
    Wed, 28th Nov 200710:41 am 

    ARE YOU SERIOUS? STAND IN FRONT OF MAGAZINE RACKS AT VARIOIUS STORES, LOOK AT CATALOGS…WATCH TV, TELL ME WHAT YOU. COM'ON ARE YOU SERIOUS? YEA THERE ARE ALWAYS PEOPLE WHO FIGHT FOR DIVERSITY..BUT…COM'ON…ARE YOU SERIOUS?

  2. TRAY says:
    Tue, 29th Jul 20089:56 pm 

    The lack of diversity sickens me to no end because I am a black woman and its a slap in the face. No one on this earth can make me believe I am anything less that beautiful and I am sorry to say that this is unfair. We spend so much money in the entertainment world. Are you serious! we spend too much! how dare they undermine us and our ability to look and perform as beautifully as our white counterparts. This is not just blacks, but hispanics and other monoirites. If this world was completely white we would be dull with no culture. I would sure love to know who those designers are because I would stop me from buying, my children from buiying and my whole family. Now if this spreads, how much money will the fashion industry leak from the hard earned money blacks use to buy their clothes?If we all blacks decided not to spend the money on the brand names we love so much, could that not be economically devastating?

  3. Mark Gilbert says:
    Wed, 5th Nov 20086:58 pm 

    Is the fashion industry racist? YES

    Is research into sickle cell anemia racist? YES

    Is the fashion industry ugliest? (discriminates against ugly people) YES (I like that, the fashion industry is ugliest.)

    Why stop at racist? Why not choose any other category that people are predisposed to choosing? (Ugly/Attractive Rich/Poor Clever/Stupid, etc.)

    Oh – and your site asked me is Fire hot or cold, please realise that the temperature of fire is relative to a source value in the question hot/cold. LEARN SOME SCIENCE (some people may find that a little pedantic…. well that is the first indication they are wrong.)

    Do you really think that type of question can defeat a computer system? LEARN SOME COMPUTER SCIENCE

    Do you have a comment about my spelling or other communication convention? LEARN THAT CONVENTIONS are DESCRIPTIVE… NOT PRESCRIPTIVE.

    Am I show boating? ABSOLUTELY… everyone is, but most people are afraid to admit it so hide under the guise of subtlety.

    Lalo Schifrin is the very definition of perfection. (Hey if everyone is going to try and claim a monopoly on absolutes…. why not me.)

    Computer Science is REALLY the only guide to the absolute….. All else is really just opinion.

    If you want to argue, then make sure you are better armed than me. Just a suggestion.

    GET A LIFE – since when did the fashion industry count for anything (influence) the people who feed the ideas TO the fashion industry or the consumers of fashion. Give it a break.

  4. Justin DeWalt says:
    Thu, 20th May 20102:50 pm 

    Why Do They Have To Change?

    This note was inspired by a blog post by fashion photographer Tarrice Love. His post was about the injustice of blacks in the industry of fashion. I’m a fan of his but, we do not share the same views on the issue.This topic has been rolling around the web and other publications heavily for few years now.

    Before I begin, don’t get me wrong. I don’t agree with what’s going on in the industry, but I do think the complaining needs to stop… Now! There are too many talented individuals (of color) in this industry for something not to change. When I say change, I don’t mean by the hands of the industry itself but by ourselves as talented, creative, ingenious people. we have the skill and the know-how but what a lot of us are missing, is the initiative.

    It’s almost like were waiting for the fashion industry to validate our own beauty! We get angry when were not covering glossy magazines or being featured on the hottest designer’s runway, this is completely understandable but why do they have to change for us? The fashion industry is a very “niche-driven” industry (high fashion). Those brands are marketing to people who share their views (for the most part or so they like to think so) and like us, they want to see their ideas of themselves. Though there are lots of people of color in this country, blacks still only make up roughly 13.5% of the population, and in relation to fashion, a lot less than that.

    What we’re really asking is for them to change their brands to accommodate our passions and likes. This is really all a matter of taste (on our part). if we really had a problem with what they are doing we can easily show it in our numbers. Stop buying their products! African-Americans make up a huge part of those sales (that’s a whole different issue in it’s self lol) and can easily change them if we wanted to!

    We have to learn to do for ourselves again and find the support from OUR OWN to do so! I think we’ve subconsciously been taught, as a ‘culture’ to complain about all our injustices and “pray” something or someone changes them. We have to change them ourselves! You can’t be mad at them for putting in the magazines WHAT THEY LIKE. Start a magazine, put your own in your runway shows, know and WANT your audience! If the want or need is their, the support will be also. We have too many free outlets for no one to want to start something powerful. If mediatakeout.com (disgusting) can be featured in Times…

    The leader of the free world looks more like we do people! HELLO?! This isn’t an original idea…I just think we forgot it. We have to be willing to humble ourselves and take the first step. Period. Don’t do these things out of spite or to prove a point to “the industry”, do them because you are passionate about it and want to. Just trying to prove a point never works. It just comes off childish and contrived. Remember, “you are the industry”. It wouldn’t work without you or… it just be a lot less interesting lol.

    “What you think about and talk about most will come to be”.

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