Whenever I think about fashion, the reality of the lack of women of color glossing the pages of Vogue and Elle is never far from my mind. It's unfortunate that the demographic of this country is laughably portrayed in magazines, promoting this pointed angular "beauty" that is not apparent in most people. I don't believe there should be a world wide crusade against all people who have those features, but I do think there should be more of a well rounded representation of humanity. People are beautiful, and beauty comes in all shades, not just pale. Ugh, if I have one more pasty model slapped in front of me, forcing me to dictate my beauty in comparison to theirs, I will vom... EVERYWHERE.
So I read this article about the influx of ethnic models in the Milan fashion shows, and the article was startlingly entitled, "Blackout." It brings tears... No it makes my blood boil to find out the amount of racism that exists in the fashion world. In
an article in the NY times a black male model tells a reporter that on some of the model casting sheets for Milan it said "No blacks." What is going on in the fashion world where things like this are not reported and people aren't held accountable/demonized for blatantly discriminatory statements? That just makes me wanna blow the lid off of these ridiculous offenses. Although, this article makes me mad for a few reasons.The most glaringly preposterous one- IF I HEAR "THE OBAMA AFFECT" USED ONE MORE TIME IN REGARDS TO THE BETTERMENT OF RACE RELATIONS I'M GOING TO DROP KICK SOME PUPPIES. I'm sorry, just because our president is black does not absolve this country from years of brutality against minorities and the OBVIOUSLY racist past that involved... ugh, what was it called again? OH YEAH
SLAVERY!!!! Phew. I'm glad I got that out.
There have been attempts in the past to help allay the reality that black models are just not used in fashion shows and layouts... this genius piece of work.
Oh, thank-you Vogue for allowing so many black models do this one "special" magazine that exoticizes the SHIT out of these black women. Gen and I were talking about it and she said "they were talking about the models like they were dead!" And she's right! It was like a frekkin tribute issue. These women are still alive fighting for their place in the fashion world, not some long lost women we wish we could see more of... um, we can.
I'm sure Obama's presidency did open doors, but it WILL NOT alleviate this ongoing problem. I would like to see more people of color on the runway not just black people, maybe some
asians, gasp!
Indians maybeeee?!! I mean, there are some
gorgeous women out there from all walks of life, how about we showcase their beauty?
Yay!
More people to feel inadequate next to! (but that's a whole different story)
