What about beauty products?
When it comes to makeup we need
to find our matching nude tones, to
enhance products that are individual
to us. Again within the white market
the amount of shades, formulas and
price ranges that are accessible within
the beauty market is endless. But
sadly the market for darker skin is
very limited, and in most cases very
premium when it comes to product
choice. We are starting to see a shift
in the pattern as we are starting to
see the best of brands catering for
all skin tones and types whether you
are pale or dark. Let’s give these
brands a massive amount of love,
and a well-deserved purchases for
showing respect for diversity. Let’s
hope diversity awareness within the
fashion and beauty market carries on in
the right direction. So in recent years
to come everyone can have a choice
of colour to pick from, whether is be,
tights, underwear,makeup and even
nude shoes. If this carries on the way
it is, then there’s no reason the fashion
industry cannot change their image
on diversity. I feel that it is a strong
backward thinking when it comes to
writing about this subject, but hopefully
it continues to carry on changing so
that everyone can embrace their true
nude self.
Nude: The Bare Truth
When defining nude, the Oxford
Dictionary expresses the term as having
colour whether it be tanned or pale. When
considering this definition, we ask the
question why has the fashion industry
only seen white as the colour of ‘nude’ for
years.
The concept of nude being a pale tone
originated in the 1920s, when pale pink
and yellowed undergarments were
created for the rich western woman. As
the fashion industry was changing, the
white women were the only ones evolving
with it. The word nude was simply named
after it’s most demanding consumers. In
this time you can see the large amount of
white female models in the fashion and
textile industry, this is shown in runway
shows and in campaign imagery. This
was all to attract the western consumer.
But a lack of awareness of the wealth
and development in other continents,
shows the lack of consideration and
appreciation of the now diverse and
multicultural majorities.
Media has allowed the rise of exotic
origins to grow within the fashion
industry slowly. We saw this happen in
40
the 90’s with the rise of supermodels
such as Naomi Campbell and Jordan
Dunn. Yet with the endless names of
white supermodels dominating the
scenes, compared to the coloured models
presence in the industry is embarrassing.
The main issue is established within the
fashion brands in the west, because they
are stuck in their ways of promoting
white beauty.
"Luxury brands set out
to sell you a fantasy."
Luxury brands are set out to sell you a
fantasy and a ideal of how you want to
be, for many of them the perfect model
is white, blonde hair with blue eyes. We
can argue that we need to be more
diverse in fashion, but the stereotype is
now a symbol in advertising. The main
consumers in China and the Middle East
see a white model featured in a brand's
campaign as automatic luxury. I say we
need to involve more of these groups
in the modelling and expression of a
brand, but the companies that create
the campaigns see too much of a risk in
changing the consumer's stereotype and
worry it won't be perceived as luxurious
anymore.
When considering diversity in runway
shows statistics gained from the 4 main
fashion weeks (New York, London, Paris
and Milan). The statistics show that out of
the 3,875 models that were cast, only 797
models were of colour. This means that
79% of the models representing brands
were white and less than 10% were of
Chinese origin. This figure is shockingly
disappointing but more importantly, the
lack of diversity in ethnicities such as
the Chinese and Indians in modelling is
through their view of modelling being
unsatisfactory or unrealistic job prospect.
Whether this message is passed to
a person through family traditions or
expectations.
This makes an interesting point as are we
pushing the ethnic and diverse concept
into countries and communities, that
simply don't want to be involved. Also,
when casting the shows the range of
Bobbi Brown Longwear even finish
Foundation £31.50
models auditioned by designers
sometimes isn’t in their full control, as we
see agencies refusing to present models
that are of darker skin tones or with
appearances that are not generically
beautiful. To then filter the fashion
stereotypes of white girls in a bid to
get more of their models in the shows,
making the problem in the industry not
totally about the designers and their
brand but what is filtered to them.
"Rebel against the
now boring ‘ideal’"
Although all is not lost, as within the
recent years we are starting to see
a positive shift in diversity, with new
fashion houses and their collections
rebelling against the now boring ‘ideal’.
This past season of AW16 we saw the
likes of Zac Posen, Chromate, Gypsy
Sport and most well known Kanye
West’s Yeezy collection, that showcased
a majority of mixed races and cultures
within their shows. Celebrating the
unique beauty that comes with being
you. The most successful showing was
Kanye West's Yeezy show, because of his
social media presence, people looked at
his eye-opening collection. The designs
were created for a variety of different
tones, shades and hues that makes every
human unique. The strength and public
engagement with the campaign was
only strengthened through the variety
and contrast of the models that other
establish