Take a walk through any major city and one will soon notice campaigns and magazines plastered with white faces lining the streets. And during Fashion month, twice a year, the lack of diversity becomes apparent through designers runway shows and displays of art. The fashion industry has not always been dominated by white models; in fact, non-white models used to make up almost half of the industry’s models. However, over the past decade, non-white models struggle to be recognized for their talents due to the rise of aspirational marketing, which is when a magazine offers readers a continuous beauty look they can aspire, but most likely never achieve. For example, starting in the late 1970’s, magazines and campaigns presented “blonde bombshells”
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Alexi Lubomirski, a photographer, expressed that change is not happening consistently; progress is sprinkled (Ranscombe). Lubomirski describes model castings where girls continue to be immediately eliminated just because of their skin color, reinforcing the single story that non-white models are less talented and respected. Along with Lubomirski, black supermodel, Naomi Campbell speaks about her struggle as a young black model fighting for the same jobs as white models. Starting young, Campbell had to “put in extra effort and be twice as good” as the white models she with whom she competed (Elan). Campbell’s struggle for recognition as a young, black model is common amongst many non-white models today. When it comes to model castings, the picky, selective behavior model agents carry out depicts the industry as one that does not respect non-white models. As well as having to battle to book shows, non-white models often experience tokenism, the act of hiring a minority to prevent criticism. When designers fail to feature non-white models on the runway it “sends the message that the designer doesn’t see people of color in their world” (Elan). Through tokenism and discrimination towards non-white models, the fashion industry continues to struggle with efficient, meaningful progress in embracing
Alexi Lubomirski, a photographer, expressed that change is not happening consistently; progress is sprinkled (Ranscombe). Lubomirski describes model castings where girls continue to be immediately eliminated just because of their skin color, reinforcing the single story that non-white models are less talented and respected. Along with Lubomirski, black supermodel, Naomi Campbell speaks about her struggle as a young black model fighting for the same jobs as white models. Starting young, Campbell had to “put in extra effort and be twice as good” as the white models she with whom she competed (Elan). Campbell’s struggle for recognition as a young, black model is common amongst many non-white models today. When it comes to model castings, the picky, selective behavior model agents carry out depicts the industry as one that does not respect non-white models. As well as having to battle to book shows, non-white models often experience tokenism, the act of hiring a minority to prevent criticism. When designers fail to feature non-white models on the runway it “sends the message that the designer doesn’t see people of color in their world” (Elan). Through tokenism and discrimination towards non-white models, the fashion industry continues to struggle with efficient, meaningful progress in embracing