Fashion Model “Blackout”?

It’s 2014, but people are still talking about the lack of black models on the runway.

At a time when celebrities and political figures have become the preferred faces to be featured on major fashion magazines, First Lady Michelle Obama, Beyonce, Rihanna, Lupita Nyong’o, Halle Berry, and even Kanye West (with Kim Kardashian, of course) have appeared in recent years on the cover of Vogue. The same women, along with popular supermodels like Joan Smalls and Liya Kebede, have also been tapped to be the face of major cosmetics campaigns from Lancome and L’Oreal to Estee Lauder.

So what’s the problem?

A panel of black editors said the problem is that those examples are still the exceptions rather than the rule when it comes to seeing black faces on the runways and featured in major fashion spreads. And these editors, speaking during a panel discussion last month at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Boston, predicted that things probably won’t be much different when the spring 2015 shows begin this week.

The editors, all African Americans, said that their panel’s title—“Fashion Blackout” was an apt description for how black models are still frequently left out of the picture when it comes to fashion.

And, the issue of black models on the runway during New York Fashion Week, is really part of a bigger persistent problem: in 2014 black models are still often not considered for prestigious and high profile modeling jobs including major fashion photo spreads.

“It’s terrible. It goes beyond just models during Fashion Week. It’s quite evident that there are very few of us anywhere,” said John-John Williams IV, fashion and pop culture writer for the Baltimore Sun. “If it comes down to spending power (African Americans) have shown they buy. We like to buy designer clothes. The hip-hop community definitely does a good job of doing product placement for so many designers. First Lady Michelle Obama is one of the leading style trendsetters in the country.

“But then you see so many instances where there are no models of color at all. I don’t understand why (designers) don’t think it’s important to have images that reflect these future and current clients.”

Alicia Quarles, who does red carpet fashion reports as a correspondent for “E!” and “The Today Show,” pointed out that there are some, particularly in Europe, who regularly use black models.

“Givenchy embraces us. He embraces hip-hop. Designers like Olivier Theyskens embrace us. There is a new crop of designers that get it,” she said.

But panelists said many designers don’t even think about racial diversity when they’re creating and presenting their collections.

“They’re designing for what they think of as beautiful. You can’t legislate that. You can’t legislate what someone thinks is beautiful,” said Elizabeth Wellington, fashion writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Wellington said she thinks the fashion world will see more change as a new generation of designers grows into prominence and power.

But panelists said a bigger problem was the lack of diversity reflected in editorial decisions made by fashion editors, whether it was casting models for photo shoots or selecting images for magazine covers.

“First, I approach it as a story. Let’s take something universal like (shift dresses). That’s a universal topic. It’s a dress, right? It’s not a black issue or a white issue. I make sure and include people in my story who are people of color,” Wellington said. “If I’m doing a back to school story I make sure I include people of color.”

Williams said it’s also a matter of paying attention to casting decisions for photo shoots. After he took over the fashion coverage for the Baltimore Sun, Williams said he began questioning the model choices being sent to him by the modeling agency the paper was working with. They were all white and blonde with blues eyes.

“The agency assumed that’s what we preferred because that’s what the previous editor had always selected,” Williams said.

That’s why having the right people in positions that make editorial decisions is so important, said L.  Londell McMillan, owner and group publisher of The NorthStar Group, which publishes Jones Magazine and The Source.

McMillan is better known as an entertainment lawyer whose clients include Lil Kim, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan and Michael Jackson before his death. But he said his experience as an entertainment lawyer gave him an important fashion outsider perspective on the issue. For McMillan, the deliberate use of black models in Jones Magazine’s fashion spreads is not only a personal decision to address a problem he saw, but also a smart business decision.

“We have to invest in ourselves. If we don’t invest in ourselves and don’t really go to the market and support each other we’re going to continue to ask the question (where are the black models?),” McMillan said. “I think we have to ask the question, but we have to take action, too.”

McMillan noted that it was also important to understand how the magazine business is targeted and segmented. “We have to make the case, the business case, that (using black models) is important,” he said.

That also means that editors have to be prepared for pushback from readers when black models are featured.

“A lot of people have a hard, hard time seeing themselves in (a fashion story) when there’s a black woman on the cover,” said Wellington. The Philadelphia Inquirer writer said she has received letters complaining about her featuring a dark-skinned black model on a cover who had natural hair.

“Some people wrote and said that was beautiful, that was so brave,” she said. “But there were a number of people who couldn’t see themselves in those clothes because they were worn by a black model.”

Quarles said the bottom-line is that fashion writers and editors are journalists first and foremost. ”Our job is to deliver that diversity, to represent the world we live in,” she said. “You have to have people in power who can make those changes, who see that this is important.”

—Karyn D. Collins