Just yesterday, Shay Neary was hailed as the first plus-size transgender model to land a fashion campaign. In 2016 more than ever, trans people are visible in the fashion world, gracing magazine covers, runways, and podiums as leaders in fashion and activism. Just yesterday, Shay Neary was hailed as the first plus-size transgender model to land a fashion campaign. In 2016 more than ever, trans people are visible in the fashion world, gracing magazine covers, runways, and podiums as leaders in fashion and activism.
Here are 9 times (in no particular order) the fashion industry put transgender people in the spotlight in 2016:
This is a major win for diversity in fashion, but we obviously still have a lot more work to do. Neary still says it is difficult for her to get casted in fashion shoots, as she “ticks off too many diversity boxes.”
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Body diversity is trailing far behind racial diversity in fashion -- the media indisputably reinforces the idealization of thinness and the concept of a “perfect body.” Plus-size models account for .1 percent of the total. A handful of New York-based brands that offer plus-size collections, like Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Michael Kors, repeatedly choose not to represent this portion of their client base in shows or in print campaigns.
It’s then no wonder that girls and boys are constantly feeling insecure about themselves, their bodies, and who they are when the surrounding message is that they must change in order to just feel like they’re part of this human race. It’s hard to wake up feeling good about ourselves, and it’s getting harder with the idealized version of beauty compounded by the industry. The fashion industry doesn’t just sell clothes but a whole look and style, and people buy into it. This narrow representation of bodies is incredibly dangerous. These images perpetuated by the business do make a difference, and the disturbing statistics of eating disorders in our culture showcase that. Claire Mysko, COO of the National Eating Disorders Association says, “30 million Americans will struggle with an eating disorder at some point in their lives. While images of thin models don't cause eating disorders, we do know that the lack of body diversity on runways reinforces the idea that thinness is equated with happiness, success and beauty. For those who might be in a vulnerable place, that is a potent and dangerous message." In the 60s and 70s, models were sizes 6 and 7. Marilyn Monroe was not a size 0. It’s only the 21st century that is fueling the widespread assumption that if you’re not a size 2, you’re not healthy. This is not just a vanity issue nor a passing fad, it’s a serious public health issue. Fashion doesn’t need to be one size. Men and women come in all different shapes and sizes and it’s all about embracing the different standards of beauty. A lot of progress has been made, but it's far from enough. I want to see a day when girls are saying “I want to be as confident as her,” not “I want to be as skinny as her.” I love how our Barbies have diversified with different body shapes, I don’t understand why mannequins that display our very clothes haven’t followed. Have different things on different people of different sizes -- is that so hard? Everyone’s open to seeing a new normal. We’re all different, and we should be. http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/fashion-week/news/a18288/spring-2017-fashion-shows-most-diverse/ In 2008, the fashion industry faced a reckoning over the startling lack of diversity among the models on major design runways. That same year Franca Sozzani, the editor of Italian Vogue, published a provocative issue featuring only black models; Diane von Furstenberg, the president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, urged members to be more aware of diversity in casting; Vogue published a substantial article in its July 2008 issue that asked, in the headlines, “Is fashion racist?”
Since then, almost nothing has changed. Paradoxically, fashion is always looking for what’s new, but the industry’s principles are deeply outdated. Last October, Business of Fashion reported that, of the 3,875 models used over the course of September’s Fashion Month, only 797 were models of color. That means that about 79.4 percent of models used were white. Asian, Black, and Middle Eastern models all saw a minor bump in castings from previous seasons while the number of nonwhite Latina models decreased from 2.9 percent for fall to 2.6 percent for spring. This is hardly the first time a reputable industry source has published such a report, and every time it happens, all of the guilty parties point to each other in a circle of blame. Designers say that casting directors only pick thin white models, casting directors say the agencies only send them thin white models, and the agencies say that designers only want thin white models. Everyone assumes the prejudice lies somewhere else. Casting agents, modeling agencies, and major design brands staunchly believe that there is no race problem because they “already have their black girl.” Time and time again, runways return to the same models of color, so few in the history of modern fashion who were able to break through that it’s easy to name them: Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell, Beverly Johnson, and Pat Cleveland in the past, and Cindy Bruna, Lineisy Montero, Imaan Hammam, and Jourdan Dunn now. This almost feels like an insult when I see the standard two models of color in succession at shows -- as if the designer is checking off a box marked “inclusiveness.” People think in cliches and they find a few people safe; designers rotate between only the select few because they’re continually safe, which lowers the opportunity for others. Jourdan Dunn and Imaan Hammam might be safe for designers, but safety is bad for fashion and for diversity. Luxury fashion customers are more diverse than ever, but on catwalks and magazine covers, white models still dominate. Why doesn’t the industry reflect its consumer base? Achieving a fair and attainable market for our chosen skin from its roots on the runway can only happen if the whole industry works together. The industry is driven by artistic expression, but also by a bigger force that looms over all called profit. Once designers realize that they’re missing out on a market and not serving that clientele, and that other companies have an advantage because they’re addressing that market, then we will start to see correction. http://www.vogue.com/13263763/bethann-hardison-interview-diversity-on-the-runways/ |
Our Goal:To inform on the ongoing crises that the clothing industry poses on our community and applaud any acts that rise over the conventional ways of consumption.
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