Jourdan Dunn calls out the fashion industry for being racist in a recent interview with Net-A-Porter‘s The EDIT Magazine. But did we really think that racism didn’t exist in the fashion industry? It’s no surprise to me.
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Even though the supermodel has landed some of the industry’s most coveted campaigns for H&M, Burberry, Yves Saint Laurent (and slayed the covers of Vogue Italia and Teen Vogue), the 22-year-old British beauty still faces blatant racism during castings and backstage prep.
According to The EDIT Magazine:
“There were times when Dunn would be on her way to castings and told to turn back because the client “didn’t want any more black girls”. There was even one instance when a makeup artist announced on a shoot that she didn’t want to make-up Dunn’s face because she herself was white and Dunn was black.”
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Jourdan admitted that in the past this discrimination upset her, but her values and tremendous belief in self-esteem allowed her to press through difficult times.
I absolutely adore Jourdan for her no holds barred commentary about the in’s and out’s of the fashion world. I’ve been backstage during New York Fashion Week and I’ve seen and heard it for myself.
But is this commentary really effective? While the media rushes to report when a model loses her cool and has a twitter rant, I can’t help but to question when are WE going to start talking about the solution. Or is there even a solution?! Racism is something that our generation would like to think doesn’t exist at all. Granted, I’ve never had to sip out of “black only” water fountains or enter through back doors to see my favorite movies, but it’s time to wake up beauties.
It’s time to support only those designers who hire black models in their campaigns and those who cast more than two or three of our black beauties for their runway shows. Just like in other industries, we have to be the change.
So how do you think we can demand more black models on our runways and advertisements? Chime in below!
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