In the words of one of my favorite movie characters Napoleon Dynamite ” Heck Yea!”
And nowhere was it more evident than in last weeks Annual Mercedes Benz Fashion Week events in NYC. This morning while reading my daily dose of WWD I came across the article “Little Diversity in Fashion: African-Americans Bemoan Their Absence in Industry”. Hallelujah! I was awed that:
1. There was an actual get together to talk about the issue of black girls missing form the catwalks and the under representation of African-American in the overall Industry.
2. Some of the things stated/quoted ( read here)
3. It even made it on the fashion media radar to be covered by WWD
In my little time in the fashion industry as someone who’s highly educated, experienced, gregarious and Black, it hasn’t been easy for me. I’ve had my share of grippes, which was another reason why I haven’t posted for so long. In many ways I feel betrayed by the industry I love so much. Where are the women that look like me? And I don’t want to go around calling the race card either, because then it would be just another clichéd “Us vs Them” issue, which it is not. Alienation is a bitch. And to think there’s probably more young women like me asking the same questions, who are so into fashion yet when we pick up a copy of Vouge we almost never see anyone that looks like us. We want the shoes, the bags, the dresses and the other stuff the people in the magazine are displaying.
Living here in Paris, I’ve come to realize the situation is a lot worse here. Never, ever, in the US would you have to send pictures along with your resumes. Here you do, and if your picture isn’t attached it gets tossed to the “never never” pile, if your picture is attached and your black its likely it’ll end up in the same pile.
What to do, what to do what to do?
The American and European cultures and histories are different but both have the same disdain and prejudices when it comes to hiring and working with black people.
The only thing is in America; black people have a stronger voice.
Here I get excited when I see a black person on TV! It’s trivial if you’re living in the US but monumental if when you’re living in France.
A close friend of mine works for a well known fashion company here in Paris, she’s African-American from NYC and has a MBA in luxury marketing, and still she says she have to deal with clients who thinks she’s the secretary of the group.
Anyways the gist of the article goes something like this:
Designers don’t want black models, magazines don’t want black models and agencies hire very few of them.
Do you think using black girls is bad from you’re a company’s brand image as a magazine, designer or agency? And if so, why? How can the problem be resolved or a wider forum open for more discussion?
