If a real ethnic diversity has been able to impose itself in the world in the world, the models (very) slim always run the parades. A background debate agitates behind the scenes, carried by a new generation of creators.
by Elvire von Bardeleben
Diversity, included: for three years, fashion and luxury brands have only these words in the mouth. You just have to leaf through the pages of the magazines or look at the display panels in the street to realize that an advertising campaign which would bring together, for example, three white, thin and blond women is no longer relevant. And yet, when we observe the last fashion weekends in September and October 2022 which took place in New York, London, Milan and Paris, the balance sheet is contrasting: if ethnic diversity seems to have really imposed itself, the extreme slimmer remains The standard for most parades.
“Huge progress has been made with regard to skin color for two or three years,” said Pierre Rougier, president of the communication agency Pr Consulting. “We observe a wider panel of nationalities each season, with a large number of new models from southern Sudan, India or Sri Lanka”, confirms Margaux Warin, fashion and trends manager at Tagwalk, search engine that Compiles the parades of all brands. “Right now, agencies are growing like mushrooms in Africa because there is a real demand for brands for African beauties,” says Nathalie Cros-Coitton, director of the Mannequins agency Women.
Mannequins research is also very active in India or Korea, she says. This new standard has imposed itself in the same way in advertising. “Five years ago, she was still mainly white. Today, the trend was reversed,” analyzes André Mazal, director of strategic planning at the BETC Luxe Paris advertising agency. “Even diamond marks, historically rather associated with white culture, take black muses, like Tiffany with Beyoncé.”
interchangeable bodies
This evolution is linked to several factors. It first responds to a commercial reality: Western fashion brands seek to consolidate their grip in Asia, to develop new markets in Africa or India. To seduce a global clientele, they can no longer be content to embody their products with white models. In parallel, social movements accelerated the process: after the death of George Floyd in June 2020 and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, many fashion brands were alpagged on social networks, summoned to issue a Political opinion.
In the process, some of them (Prada, Gucci, Adidas, Burberry …) have set themselves internally “diversity and inclusion officials”, safeguards against all kinds of discrimination, but particularly vigilant on issues racial discrimination, which are the most sensitive. “We sometimes have the impression that the diversity of skin has erased other questions,” said André Mazal.
You have 68.78% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.