Diversity In Fashion: The Stats

1. In honor of NYFW kicking off this week (and another Fashion Month), I figured this was something important to talk about, as it always should be. I wrote this for part of one of my projects last semester about the imbalance of representation in the fashion industry. All stats are based off of data from The Fashion Spot.  Please excuse the shoddy video, as I was not (and still am not) the greatest at iMovie. Enjoy!

   
   

   
   

   
   In a diversity report done by The Fashion Spot based on the Spring 2016 collections, 77.6% of models on the runway were white. The study was done based on 373 show and 9,926 models, spanning the four city Fashion Week circuit. In Fall 2015, 80% of models were white and in Spring 2015, there was a whopping 83%. While the unbalanced percentages are slowly shrinking, the apparent lack of diversity in fashion is still apparent in today's society. 
2. Brands like Erdem, Nina Ricci, Roksanda, Giorgio Armani and Saint Laurent hired two models of color for their shows, making their collectons less than 7% regarding diversity. Valentino showcased an African-themed collection with white models in cornrows, rather than casting an appropriate set of models to represent the collection to its fullest potential.

   
   

   1. Other designers, like Orla Kiely, John Richmond, Uma Wang, Comme de Garcons, Junya Watanabe, David Laport, Undercover and Erin Fetherston has completely white washed runways, casting zero models of colors to don their garments.
   1. In their Fall 2015 ads, Chloé, Saint Laurent, Gucci, Burberry Prorsum, Moncler Gamme Rouge, Versace and Valentino used no women of color. Out of 460 Fall 2015 print ads, 85% of the models were white, followed by 6.2% Asian, 4.4% black, and 1.7% Latina.
   1. On the other hand, Roberto Cavalli, Sandro, Dior Secret Garden, Sam Edelman, Lucky Brand Jeans, Kimora Lee Simons and Alexis Bittar casted only models of colors, includung celebrity ambassadors.

      
      

      Trailing behind racial diversity is body diversity. Plus-sized models accounted for only .1% of the total models during the Spring 2016 runways. Of the entire month of fashion shows, 14 plus-sized models appeared on the runways during Chromat and Addition Elle's shows. Models Denise Bidot and Sabina Karlsson walked in both shows.