Media Moment, Contradiction On The Catwalk
The usual occurs on almost every Sunday morning. Slide out of bed to be welcomed to a cup of porridge and green tea at the Kitchen table. Moments later, my sister in Italy calls and we carry on with our 6 hour conversation about all things pop culture and fabulous.
Well this particular conversation presented the discussion of fashion, which delights both of us. But this time, my sister was enraged. Being a model she took offense to Alexander Wang's Spring 2014 Ready-To-Wear Collection. Obviously, none of us our blind to the blatant racism in fashion.
Wang's fashion show, which I wasn't particularly impressed with, and I am not the picky type. We both found it interesting how the clothing was very reminiscent of Urban culture, especially when the models are strutting or stumbling to classic Hip-Hop music.
What made her so angry was he or whoever, selected only two black female models out of what, thirty women! Really? Especially as the clothing combined with the music, and on top of that, having famous Black individuals sitting in the front row. He didn't even have many Asian models, and he's Asian!
I loathe that so many fashion shows are monochromatic. Beauty exists in every shape and size but to only present woman of one color is beyond fashion Faux-pas. Get it together fashion because prejudice is tacky.
I'm glad you posted this. But sadly this is a common theme where certain aspects of a group or culture that seem or are cool are taken and they aren't given any credit. This has been especially true for black culture for an incredible number of years. By not using more then 2 models of color Wang becomes a facilitator of this type of process. Also, I want to point out that I understand people will take influence from things different groups or just that are cool, and I am fine with that, but at least give credit where credit is due and be aware of your actions.
ReplyDelete