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



Esha says:
Wed, 28th Nov 20073:41 pm
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?
TRAY says:
Wed, 30th Jul 20082:56 am
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?
Mark Gilbert says:
Wed, 5th Nov 200811:58 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.
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