Asian Majority

New York’s Fashion Week has come and gone but not without observations on the diversity of the models. For the shows observed, most designers had one or two black models and a few Asians, whereas some had none. The two that stood out as having more of a mix included Diane von Furstenberg and Baby Phat. At least half the models for Baby Phat were black or Asian.

A spokeswoman for the Council of Fashion Designers of America challenged the designers to establish the ethnic diversity. In response to some of the criticisms, some designers and casting directors said the lack of diversity was due to problems finding black and Asian models.

There probably is a bit of truth that there aren’t as many models that are black and Asian compared with Caucasian models. I’d actually be interested to know what the actual breakdown is. But are these designers honestly going to the agencies and demanding that they find more minority models?

On top of all of this, I can only imagine how much worse this gets when looking along gender lines of how many Asian guy models were used.

I’m at least glad to see that designer of Baby Phat, Kimora Lee Simmons (who is of Korean descent), made an effort to diversify, but it is frustrating when another minority designer does not try to bring more exposure to blacks and Asians. Thuy Diep, a female designer from Vietnam says that her clothes go beyond ethnicity, and she just looks for people that fit her clothes. In my opinion, you can probably find someone to fill it that is a minority.

I’m not advocating an all-Asian model runaway (not that I would complain either), but at this stage, I’m sure there is more of an underexposure than an overexposure.

Original Story: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN1036539720070911?pageNumber=1

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