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.

The annoying blond from The Hills (doesn’t narrow it down at all, does it?) has been an intern at Teen Vogue for a while, and I guess after two years of licking envelopes and putting dresses back on hangers, MTV decided she had enough training to put out her own line of boring, expensive crap.

Looking like stuff you could pick up at Forever 21 or H&M for $20, Conrad’s designs (named after herself. How imaginative) range from an $85 to $150 dollars, totally slamming the door on any of her teenage fans who don’t have their parents credit card handy.

After clicking through the small array of rayon shirts and dresses (and a headscarf that costs $25.00), I can’t decide which pisses me off more; the fact that MTV has become so obsessed with money that it no longer applies to normal people, or the fact that girls will actually buy expensive stuff designed by a chick who has no official training whatsoever.

All I’m saying is, if I’m going to buy something that’s almost 90% rayon, I’ll push past the 10-year-olds to the Wet Seal at my neighborhood mall.

Check out the entire Lauren Conrad Collection after the jump!

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