Westwood: Do As I Say, Not as I Style

Oct 15, 2007 @ 10:05am

Vivienne Westwood has issued another call to arms, this time for more magazine diversity.

The fashion Dame told the Times UK that fashion magazines "should be "forced" to use a certain proportion of black models [on their covers] even if it hits their circulation."

Westwood insists that "magazine editors "must" use more black and Asian models if the culture of racial discrimination was to change."

You won't hear any arguments from us, but we do have a question for Ms. Westwood:

If you're so psyched for racial diversity in fashion, why did you have only one black model on your catwalk this spring? The other 29 girls were all white, and mostly Russian, but at least Vivienne is thinking ahead:

She's said she may book that lone model, Ajuma Nasanyana from Ford, to be her next campaign face.

posted by Brittany

Oct 15, 2007 10:45AM

I completely agree. That's why I've taken to smaller or more international magazines since they seem to be at least a little bit more open to the use of racially diverse models.

posted by fly'n'flashy

Oct 15, 2007 10:49AM

NYTimes article "Runways Fade to White"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/fashion/shows/14race.html?_r=1&ref=fashion&oref=slogin

I think it's time for some serious conversation to be had around this topic. I talk about it with my friends and we see an article or two popping up about it now, but is anyone really concerned with the lack of diversity on the runways and magazine covers? I'm a subscriber to Teen Vogue, W and Bazaar, among others, and it's painful to see month after month there are no girls that represent me on the covers of these magazines (except Naomi on W for June 07). I actually find this quite humorous because some of the flyest girls and women I see actually doing something with their styles, instead of just taking cues from magazines, are Black. If I'm lucky, there's a spread with ONE black girl in the entire magazine, or even on fashionista.com...

posted by I don't just like you. I like you, like you.

Oct 15, 2007 12:29PM

i agree as well.

the fashion industry should be treated like the ad industry and obligated (at least for a time) to hire more minorities in front of/behind the camera, and in other facets of the industry like PR, buying, design, etc

posted by Lacroix

Oct 15, 2007 3:41PM

Me 3. I think there should definately be equal opportunites for women of color on the runway.

posted by lola

Oct 15, 2007 5:28PM

I think that it is an issue that gets ignored far too often and is just as important as the size zero debate, but never gets anywhere near as much coverage.