The results of Monday's installment of BMW wasn't much to write home about, but the shows over the past couple days have been worse. Most of the shows I surveyed only had one black model, and it was usually Chanel Iman, Liya Kebede, or Jordan Dunn. Three designers — Jill Stuart, Monique Lhullier, and Rodarte — get a big fat F. Although I didn't include him in Black Model Watch, veteran black designer Stephen Burrows showed his smaller collection yesterday. Speaking of black designers, rumor has it Diddy's show on Friday will feature only black models. While some in the industry say that's almost as bad as having an all-white show a la Jill Stuart, I say more power to Diddy — and the black models who are finally getting some work.
After the jump, the check out the BMW stats from a select group of shows.
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Chanel Iman is not working that Badgley Mischka. It's a miracle that her legs didn't snap. Something like that is made for people with more meat on their bones like Jade Jagger. Size 4 minimum. She seems to be the token of choice plus she covers 2 minority groups so the blacks and Asians will stop bitching about not being represented.
It's a little sad to me that there seem to be only 6 black models and only the 3 you mentioned will be making any real money.
Badgley Mischka is the only one I kinda like.
Gorgeous Black Women
what i find interesting is that older designers like diane von furstenberg and oscar de la renta seem to be leading the pack as far as the number of black models used in their shows. i'm not sure what it means exactly, but i think it's significant. the fact that younger designers are less apt to use black models is really alarming. i would love to hear what everyone else thinks about this.
I don't know about Oscar, but if you look at Diane's shows from way back when, you'll see that she used a good number of black numbers. I wouldn't say that the older ones are using more black models. Donna Karan seems to be using less and less as does Karl Lagerfeld (Chanel) these days. I don't remember seeing a single black model from the press photos of Valentino's last show.
I find it a bit odd that Vera Wang and Phillip Lim don't use more models of color actually.
Diane and Oscar don't really follow trends nor can I say that they set standards for the industry. They don't jump on every bandwagon.
Gorgeous Black Women
Although black models have it bad think of the latina. They virtually have ziltch models on the runways.In addition it's very surprising designers such as Vera Wang and Anna Sui don't use more ethnic models
Since a Latina can look like anyone, they're harder to identify, like celebs- Cameron Diaz, Salma Hayek, Zoe Saldana. etc. I also wonder why designers of color don't use more models of color.
There is an Asian model blog where the young lady keeps track of asian models. Vera Wang used a number of Asian models for her show this season. Karl use to use 4 or more blk models back in the day.