Our Pick of the Month for January is about diversity in modeling! At Like a Girl, we are all about empowering females to break down barriers to achieve their dreams. Enjoy!
Diversity in the modeling industry has been a taboo topic for years. People overlook it if their favorite models aren’t being affected. There has always been a lack of color and culture during events like fashion week. Though there are cultural clothing pieces and entire lines, you will see that around 80% of the time it is a white model wearing the clothing.
Fashion is supposed to be explorative, for everyone, and inclusive to its audience. Why is the industry so keen on keeping it predominantly one race or one size? Well it’s quite simple. We are stuck at the surface level of the problem, which in turn is because of the top people in the industry. As long as we have close minded people at the very top, there won’t ever be a change we hope to see. Minorities will always be held at the bottom level of models.
In 2019, the numbers for minority groups and diversity were disappointing and low. Yet, not the lowest they have ever been. New York was the highest diverse area for models starting at 45.8% of models being non-white. While Paris and London were pretty close in numbers for second place, around 39% with London fell a little short to the third spot. Milan was heartbreakingly the least diverse area with a small number of 31.8% non-white models. It’s shocking that they would be last place considering it is the fashion capital of the world, but it isn’t the first time. Will it be their last time?
Thanks to The Fashion Spot, we have a report from the most recent fashion events such as the Spring 2020 fashion week. This is where we got the 2019 report as well. This year was the most diverse year that the industry has had yet, but still not that impressive. While New York came in first place with 46.8% non-white models again, London crept up big time and took the second place spot this year with 41% of non-white models. That’s a big difference though it may look like a small jump in the number. Paris fell short at third place instead of second this year, though the number did increase but not by a huge margin compared to the others with a 39.9% model of color. Milan being the capital for the industry has become a repeated offender of being at the fourth spot with a 36.8%.
Plus size modeling did spike, while not a huge amount, it was still a step in the right direction. Last year, there were only 50, but in this year’s Spring event, there were a total of 86 plus sized models, that group being the most diverse one in fashion week ever. Most of the plus sized models were models of color.
Now, when it comes to transgender and non-binary models, the numbers unfortunately took a plunge compared to 2019’s high amount. The number dropped from 56 to a small to 46 and though it may not look like a huge drop, it certainly is for their community. In this situation, fashion week took a huge step backwards.
In conclusion, the industry is taking a step forward each year in racial and size diversity, but still has not opened their hearts and minds to gender fluidity and acceptance. Especially in places like Europe where they had none at all, New York waving that flag and taking the lead again in numbers. The modeling and fashion industry have a very long way to go to accept all of us as who we are. We hope that one baby step at a time will hopefully turn into a bigger size. Let’s stop holding them on a pedestal and put a fire under them. Love us and express with us as we are or get nothing at all. Whether we are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Curvy, or Transgender.
Let’s stand tall and proud.
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