Only 16 Percent Of Runway Models Were Of Color At New York Fashion Week

While the fashion industry has taken a long, hard look at the age and size of its runway models, Jezebel.com analyzed another important element of the shows: model diversity. After counting the number of spots in each of the 122 Fall 2010 shows, Jezebel found that only 662 went to non-white models, which is almost 16%. This is a slight decrease from last year; however, in 2007 nearly all of the models booked were white.

Take a look at the 2010 breakdown:

Three designers--A Detacher, Alice + Olivia and Preen used all-white casts, 19 designers used only one non-white model and 18 designers used two models of color. Among the most popular models of color were Liu Wen, Rose Cordero and Tao Okamoto.

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Comments

[akena]

01:17 PM on 02/25/2010

16%? Well now, that higher than our numbers in the population isn't it? More importantly is the exponentially high black prison population which is at least three times the black population. This is more damaging to the black community while some segments of the white community benefit from this industry.

[Doc0976]

01:02 AM on 02/24/2010

At the rate the fashion industry is going, it is a wonder that they used any at all.

[SocialTwenty2]

11:16 PM on 02/23/2010

I'm so tired of this. No one will ever be satisfied! either way. I would like to see more diversity but c'mon choose your battles and the runway isn't one of them

[politicslover]

01:11 AM on 02/24/2010

I strongly disagree. Nonwhite little boys and especially girls need to see models that reflect their-selves.

[14q32]

04:31 AM on 02/24/2010

If I had kids, I'd keep them as far away from fashion shows (televised or internet) as I possibly could. The fashion industry has so many problems and a lack of racial diversity is just the tip of the iceberg. Kids should be engaged with healthier, more age appropriate activities : after school clubs, sports, hobbies, playing with other children. So called "wearable art" is nothing more than a transparent status symbol with a very short half life that happens to cost the equivalent of one year's salary for America's working poor. I don't want my (future) kids to be that shallow or materialistic.

My favorite Oscar Wilde quote, "Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months."

[ChicagoBob]

11:04 PM on 02/23/2010

"America is the most racist country in the world," and the proves my point.

We are constantly counting every shade of skin color and making a big deal out of every statistic. Somebody, somewhere, somehow is never satisfied.

[GrownupStewie]

01:39 AM on 02/24/2010

When you consider that most of those designers target core cosumers are white woman, it wouldnt make sense to use too many models of color because they want their core clients who make up most of their business to look at a white model and go "I bet I can look like that if I bought that ______"....they want models that clients can relate too....

If I were a designer I would take a very logical and statistical approach when picking models...i would do a survey to find out who bought most of my clothes, if 80% were white woman, then 80% of my models would be white, if it were 70% asian woman, then 70% of my models would be asian...what I would also do though, is figure out which market had the most growth potential and maybe add one or two more models of that race so help grow my customer base.

[griggsville]

05:26 PM on 02/24/2010

So, should black women not by clothes modeled by white women?

[griggsville]

05:40 PM on 02/24/2010

So, if the average American woman is a size 13, why aren't the models?

[GrownupStewie]

01:40 AM on 02/24/2010

But you also cant blame the designers, you should be blaming the modeling agencies, they are the ones who pick models to show to the designers...most designers will likely see only what they are shown, so if an agency only sends white models, then the designer can only work with white models. I dont think designers are racist, I think they set out to pick the best walking, best bodied woman for their clothes. 90% of models in america are europe are white, which means designers make clothes that most of these white models can wear. Black models usually have larger breasts, or a larger booty....asian models usually arent tall enough, so why would designers make all their clothes fit these molds when 90% of the models are white? they wouldnt. But when an ethnic model has a typical white model body proportions they do very very well...think chanel iman, or tyra banks or naomi campbell.

[chuckleatlibs]

08:14 PM on 02/23/2010

Yawn.

[Gabriella Mora]

06:03 PM on 02/23/2010

who cares. next post will be for affirmative action in runway casting. HA.

[griggsville]

05:41 PM on 02/24/2010

I happen to think that Affirmative Action is a good thing. And, by the way, the greatest beneficiaries of AA are....wait for it....

WHITE WOMEN!!!

[sweetlove4motherearth]

05:38 PM on 02/23/2010

what was the percentage of native americans used? can Jezebel find that statistic out for me?

[eastjame]

05:33 PM on 02/23/2010

who cares. this is ridiculous. theres no need to get hysterical and accuse them of discrimination.

anyway 80% of the country is white, and 85% of these models were white.

[borninjulyj]

05:49 PM on 02/23/2010

75% white. Not much different, but thought I'd correct. Therefore 9% off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States

[SocialTwenty2]

11:14 PM on 02/23/2010

I was thinking the same thing it's a reflection of the countries demographics. lol! I don't think these are blacks coming up with this though, someone else is bringing up these stats every now and then to keep the race wheel moving.

[Doc0976]

12:57 AM on 02/24/2010

Because we all know blacks can't count...

[Doc0976]

09:51 AM on 02/24/2010

No, it is not a reflection of the "country's" demographics (note the use of the apostrophe to annotate possessive case). All people of color do not make up 16% or less of the US population. Unreal.

Please check your facts before posting ridiculously inane and erroneous information.

[NikkiNY12]

04:55 PM on 02/23/2010

Dang wear my Latinas at? Do they count everyone from S. America as Latino? This could be way off in some ways...idk I think its reflective of the designers vision. I could be naive but I tend to think in fashion its more about the look then blatant pass over of women of color. Well not always but more of the time.

[SaltyLassi]

04:23 PM on 02/23/2010

Oops, minus the Tiger Woods cover of course. You can't not put a bad black person on the cover, now can you? The good ones get ignored.

[SaltyLassi]

04:22 PM on 02/23/2010

It's not good, but that's 16% more diversity than you see on the cover of Vanity Fair or New York magazine.

[AlexVonHussein]

04:01 PM on 02/23/2010

Most fashion houses and designers are pink people. They are doing alot of work and investing alot of money in fashion projects, so they should decide who their markets are and use the models they want.

Why dont brown, olive or yellow or red people in that matter work as hard pink people and just stop playing victims, the should design and present their cloths to the market as they wish and use the models they wish and pay for the photographers

fashion business is a very hard and demanding business, and the designers should not be forced to design for brown or olive , or yellow coloured people.

[sweetwhine]

06:57 PM on 02/23/2010

Are you seriously this ignorant?

[emmeaki]

12:22 AM on 02/24/2010

Bananas are yellow colored, people are not.

[LuckyLT2]

03:07 PM on 02/23/2010

What a surprise!! NOT!

[MsRealityBytes]

03:04 PM on 02/23/2010

Change won't occur on the runway until celebrities of all colors start refusing to attend the "Front Row" of these shows and start turning down the freebies by these designers until there's diversity.

Unfortunately, I don't see the celebrities having that much integrity to do such a thing.

[Frank Ford]

02:30 PM on 02/23/2010

The most famous models in the world are Latina.

[emmeaki]

12:24 AM on 02/24/2010

Latinas that are still Caucasian and/or definitely not too "ethnic".

[griggsville]

05:49 PM on 02/24/2010

Caucasian, but not white. "Latina" denotes ethnicity.

[Doc0976]

01:01 AM on 02/24/2010

I assume you are referring to models like Gisele Bundchen? She's Caucasian and happens to be from a South American country. If you think that makes her "Latina", take a look at a census form one day and you'll understand why it technically doesn't.