Race and Realism on the Runway

University of Virginia Engineering Student and former Anna Sui Intern, Sarah Hill, acknowledges that fashion designers want their shows to be “cohesive,” and that the shape of the model “affects the way the clothes drape” and therefore how the clothes will look and sell. University of Virginia ASOS Ambassador and creator of the web series Hoos Got Style, Tobe Okocha, recognizes that it is the designer’s right to choose models that fit a certain look if their line has a specific creative inspiration and concept, such as Hiroki Nakamura’s vintage Western-Americana inspired Visvim modeled predominantly by white men that successfully “brought to life what initially sprouted as an image in his head, and eventually developed into a look in his latest look book.” In an industry inherently based on looks, in which your jawline or eye shape may make or break you and a designers vision dictates the demographic makeup of a runway, it is difficult to imagine diversity and inclusivity.

This lack of diversity on the runway, as well as systemic racism in the treatment of skin color as trend, and a failure to provide realistic representations of the consumers of their products are all major criticisms of the look-based fashion industry. Multinational brands that are bought and therefore supported by women with many different skin tones like Calvin Klein, BCBG Max Azria, Diesel, and Lacoste all featured two or less non-white models in their New York Fashion Week shows earlier this year. In addition to this criticism of white-washed runways, there is also a push for runways to embrace models of different sizes, pushing back against the common denominators of most high fashion models: a pant size less than or equal to 2 and a BMI around 18.

IMG did promote “plus-sized” models in the same show package as every other model this year, women of color are landing major campaigns like Valentino, Prada, and Givenchy, and fashion legend Bethann Hardison does continue to fight with the Diversity Coalition to increase representation of people of color in the industry, but, these steps towards diversity are not in tempo with the deliberate march of the steppers in Rick Owens’ untraditional “Vicious” Show that featured African American women of average national sizes. Instead, progress comes as a lackluster stroll towards inclusivity.

The percentage of New York Fashion Week models who are identified as a race other than white has risen only 6% in six years, with an actual drop in the percentage of African American models between September 2013 and February 2014’s show.  “Plus-sized” models are still stigmatized in the industry , and when they aren’t stigmatized they are placed into a competitive dichotomy where they are the “real,” “curvy,” “plus-sized” woman who represent what women really look like, and “straight-sized” models are somehow lacking in womanhood. This fight for who better represents real women only further divides models instead of joining them together for what they are: people with awesome cheekbones and killer work ethic who can work a runway, smile with their eyes, and model the beautiful and intriguing creations of incredibly talented designers.

Adding two models “of color” to each show and a plus-sized show here and there to fashion week does not make it more representative of what women really look like. Regardless of whether a model has the same dress size and skin tone as I do, she will most likely still have better cheek bones, fuller lips, longer legs, and probably the elusively awesome eyebrows I’ve been longing for ever since I tragically butchered mine in middle school. In the same way that the fashion industry embraces all the eccentricities of design and designers alike, it should strive to showcase the wide array of beauty in this world and move past tokenism and categorization of women’s sizes that make them sound like a value meal upgrade. 

• new york fashion week