What's all the fuss about? Why is it an issue that there are less black models than white ones? And what do white models give to the rest of the white female population that makes this such a grave injustice? Are black people really missing out? Or is this just an issue amongst white magazine readers? Or unimaginative fashion photographers who feel they need to pull 'issues' out their ass in the name of shameless self-promotion?

Since when did modeling become the most important gauge of racial representation? Modeling doesn't represent women so why is everyone surprised that it doesn't represent race too?

Models, to most people are of very little cultural significance. Most people don't even know who Gemma Ward is and she's considered a supermodel these days. There are plenty of black women in the public eye in arenas that are far more influential to people's lives than the fashion industry.

Why are people who work in fashion so ideologically limited that they can't see anything else in the world without the frame of fashion surrounding it?

Black women are totally over-represented in music. Should we start running a crusade for the lack of white female soul singers? Jews are over-represented in comedy? Should we start running a crusade in the name of getting more protestant baptists up on stage? Czech girls are over-represented in the sex industry. Does anyone see where this is going? Funny that, they're also over-represented in modeling. I wonder if there's a connection there...

I can't help but feel disappointed by the utter pointlessness of this debate. Fashion tirelessly promotes itself as exclusive and unattainable so why are people dumb enough to be shocked by its absence of social conscience? Fashion has never been about representing the demos. Fashion as an industry is inherently fascist as this is the only mode through which it can function commercially. What do black people have to gain by becoming objectified; a fate that they spent years struggling against anyway? Who knows, maybe it's a blessing for black girls that they have stronger role models to look up to, individuals who are celebrated for their talents, not women like Naomi Campbell.

Black Issue of Italian Vogue Fashion Italian Vogue July 2008 Models Naomi Campbell Steven Meisel Vogue Italia July 2008

Black is finally in fashion at Vogue
By Ian Johnston and Photini Philippidou
Sunday, 27 April 2008

It's an open secret in the fashion industry: black models rarely get jobs on catwalks, in magazines and on billboards. According to executives, they do not inspire women to spend money.

Apart from Naomi Campbell in one Louis Vuitton advertisement this season, it would be difficult to find a single black model in a prominent position in a magazine. Carole White of the Premier Model Agency says she has received casting briefs requesting "no ethnics" and adds: "According to magazines, black models don't sell."

The leading British photographer Nick Knight says: "The fashion industry and the advertising industry are steeped in racism. You just have to look around at the number of black girls you see in ads – virtually nil. Among the main fashion brands, they are completely under-represented. It's shocking and atrocious."

Mr Knight blames business people at the top of the industry. A common attitude among them, he says, is that black models are "not aspirational" or "don't sell in Asia". He goes on: "I have tried to redress the balance. It is enormously important to use black models and models of different ethnic backgrounds."

Now a counterattack to the racism of the fashion industry is coming from an unlikely source: Vogue Italia. The July issue of the fearsomely cutting-edge quarterly will feature black models almost exclusively, shot by the photographer Steven Meisel.

Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, told The Independent on Sunday: "We are using a lot of black models, like Iman, not only the models of today – a lot of different girls." Asked why she had decided to do this, she said: "Because nobody is using black girls. I see so many beautiful girls and they were complaining that they are not used enough."

Ms Sozzani admitted the issue could yet prove to be unpopular among some in Italy, where the xenophobic Northern League is part of the new coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi: "Maybe in our country it is not the best idea. But I don't care. I think it is not my problem if they don't like it – it's their problem."

Sarah Doukas, managing director of model agency Storm, says: "There has been frustration over the years from a lot of ethnic models, stylists and editors who have felt that they were not working as much as some of their Caucasian counterparts."

But she added: "There has been a shift recently: supportive media coverage has had an impact on the fashion industry."

Nick Knight welcomes the prospect of Vogue Italia's all-black edition but adds a note of caution: "I hope all the advertising goes in that issue."

I'm speaking as a mixed race guy here who grew up in an entirely white environment, my family included. I wonder if a factor here is mainstream perception of black people as more 'sexual' than their white counterparts, or more lushly inviting at least, glossy skin, full lips, heavy eyelids an' all. The dominant shift in fashion for fifteen years has been a slow but constant movement away from sexual maturity, health and sensuality to a parched, sex-repelling aesthetic that is not nearly so 'cutting edge' as the tastemakers would seemingly like to think.

The appearance in the early '90s of Kate Moss, Tania Court and numerous other younger, paler and less developed girls seemed intriguing and fresh, like something spoken in an obscure tongue. But as a dominant sexual type it has lost all valid context and just appears strange and neurotic. That's not to slam those girls: they were natural and normal, and their very charm was their guilelessness.

But thinness, pallidness and extreme youth have now turned into some kind of poisonous, lizard-eyed fetish, as though some spirit of human community must be kept at arm's length, and I honestly sometimes wonder whether I should be glad that 'ethnic' models have largely been left out of it. Maybe it's no bad thing that high fashion imagery, oscillating between tired luxe lifestyle poses, skateboard urchin sexlessness and puerile shock tactics has left Western minorities out of the equation and able to define ourselves.

On the rare occasions where black models do feature, they're often blanded out until their ethnicity is merely incidental or, at the other extreme, presented in high contrast, living waxwork form, the darkest models polished to a sepulchural extreme, as dehumanised as Grace Jones reworked by the hand of Jean-Paul Goude.

I applaud your stance, Nick, and I for one don't glimpse anything misguided in the image of Naomi wielding a gun. It's clearly an abstract revenge of the most fantastic kind, no more documentarial than an Ally McBeal catfight. And the sight of a black model cheering atop a military tank hardly invites parallels with the youth of Islington or Elephant & Castle. But when it comes to my clothing purchases I'll vote with my feet, and however large the problem looms with those such as yourself who work alongside fashion's powerbrokers, their misanthropic and puerile aesthetics have no influence on me.

I, personally, find that talking constantly in such divisional terms ... doesn't seem to further any good cause ! ... It seems to echo the very deep animosities and a very deep rooted HATE , justifiable or unjustifiable , and if such deep 'hidden feelings for "REVENGE" do seem to be the motivation of whatever cause then we are DEFINITELY 'enlightening' no one ! ... I wonder if taking such path of imaginative guerilla ' heroism' does , indeed, help to gain sympathy and understanding from those who aren't open to a new kind of thinking ....

You can take the road of rational thinking to persuade or you can take the road of using ' metaphorical' violence by showering indiscriminately everyone who happens to be 'WHITE' with imaginary bullets .... but one thing is for sure the images will only echo that violent and irrational stereotype that I personally wish people would erase from their minds, and if we are to take into account the recent events in BRITAIN where some youth seem to be slaughtering each other out of boredom, so it seems !! .... In the end I keep wondering that if portraying violence with such schizophrenic laugh of insanity will indeed win more souls and help to weaken such vivid and strong images of using killing in order..." to get what I want... my way !!! ' ... I WONDER !

GOOD NEWS !! for those who have little faith ! ... Solange Knowles, Bejonce's sister will become the new face of ARMANI JEANS !

Firstly, Nick - Bravo!!! Thank you so very much for acknowledging the complicity of those that are held responsible for moving fashion forward for being silent partners in this offense. No longer can the gate keepers of fashion remain silent. Silence equals complicity!

My name is Malcolm Harris and I am an African-American fashion designer living and working here in New York City. My resume reads like a "Who’s Who" in fashion (apprenticed at the houses of YSL, JPG and Paco Rabanne - talents first brought to the forefront by Madonna as well as Patricia Field) meanwhile most people in fashion or in the world have never heard of me... Ask yourself why??? No one has ever disputed my talent (praised by Cathy Horyn, Suzy Menkes and even Diane Von Furstenberg herself), but still, when it comes to the majority of the fashion press and/or industry decision makers promoting a "black fashion designer" is almost unheard of... Remember, without black designers to book black and/or ethnic models, the cycle continues…

Let me share a quick story with you… Recently, I had a meeting with a potential investor who said to me the most disgusting and racist thing I have ever heard. This man with his huge checkbook and impressive portfolio said to me, “Based on your talent alone I would have no problems backing you today, but the fact of the matter is that it would truly take Barack Obama winning president for me to even consider backing an African-American designer at this moment. People just aren’t ready to buy luxury products from a Black designer.” He said this half-jokingly, which only added to the serious and insulting nature of his comments. I was absolutely floored. He went on to say to me, “People only buy Sean Jean and Kimora’s clothes because they are already big celebrities and they aren’t expensive.” The fact that he was using these two people as reference points as fashion designers truly showed me his lack of respect for me as well as my profession. Of course, I graciously told him to go “Fuck Himself” and that when Barack became President I would come back so that he could “kiss my black ass”. Which brings me to my second point…

I have always made it a point to let people know that racism exists in fashion – and for this, I have been systematically punished by the fashion industry if not shunned because I refuse to “play nice”. And this has come from both parts of the field – politically correct blacks that don’t want me to make any waves and whites that wish I would simply take my toys and go home. I haven’t even heard that blacks should be more like Asians in fashion and simply “sneak in the best way we know hose”… This was whispered to me by a prominent “African-American” in the fashion industry. Believe me when I say – “Racism in fashion is alive and thriving…”

Nick when you pointed out how this behavior of silent and complicit racism within the fashion industry makes you increasingly sad and angry – I ask you – “Imagine how we feel?” My own personal anger and sadness are palpable. But instead of the fashion industry addressing our concerns they turn us into raging figures of hatred and bitterness and label us “Angry Black Men or Women”. My disdain for Naomi Campbell’s public persona is well recorded and doesn’t really require any lengthy commentary, however, I myself am guilty of never asking – “Just why does Naomi continue to behave in this manner?” I finally believe I know why… The answer has been staring us all in the face but we all chose to ignore it. “Naomi is a product of an industry that has overtly told her since she was a teenager that you are not as good nor as valuable as your white counterpart. You will always be less than and simply consider yourself lucky to be here.” That is why Naomi is so very angry… This is why such a beautiful creature continues to behave in such an ugly way…

Almost a year ago I was featured in The New York Times (two years straight) just before fashion week regarding being one of the few black fashion designers showing during fashion week. In less than a year since the last article ran, I have lost all desire to be a part of the fashion industry as it exists today. Instead, I have created an entire new language and forum for myself that has almost nothing to do with the “powers-that-be” or the fashion industry per se. I have found a way to reach my customer base direct. But I am one of the fortunate few… On a daily basis I receive emails from black designers, models, hair/make-up artists and fashion stylists wondering why there aren’t many blacks in fashion for them to aspire to be like, or why they can’t find a way to “get in”… I wish people could feel the pain and frustration in most of these emails. I try my best to answer them as cautiously as possible as I always want to give them hope – but sometimes it’s difficult to dispense hope when you know that an entire industry is guarding the gate in an effort to keep them out. And this has more to do with simple advertising dollars and cents.

I truly do believe the proverbial Pandora’s box on racism has been opened and we must all now have the courage to keep it open. The dialogue must be broadened beyond simply using black models as we all know they merely act as a microcosm if not shield to fashion’s dirtier secret.

Nick, as an African-American fashion designer, I would like to personally thank you for acknowledging the struggle of blacks in fashion through your narrative as well as commemorating our anger and frustration via your stirring video of a machine gun wielding Naomi. The discussion has now begun – now let’s hope we can collectively move towards reparations…

The time has come!!!

more Patrick