The Colour of Beauty: Post-screening thoughts at Schema : more than ethnic

The Colour of Beauty: Post-screening thoughts

First and foremost, a big round of applause needs to go out to everyone from NFB, the Museum of Vancouver, and our very own Schema team for organizing a very successful screening of The Colour of Beauty. The turn out was great, and the discussions that followed the screening touched on the various issues surrounding race and media representation. If you haven't seen the short documentary which explores racism in the fashion industry, give yourself about 20 minutes and watch it below before reading further.

The film is great in that it brings to light a very important issue in the fashion industry and the media and pop culture in general. The statistics given in the film about just how few visible minorities are seen in the modelling business is shocking for sure.... But here are some thoughts I have from watching the documentary that bring further discussion to the issue at hand:

1) Fashion and fashion advertising have always been and always will be aspirational.

It's not so much about selling clothes, but selling a lifestyle. Think back to the mid-90's when every hip hop artist was rocking Tommy Hilfiger everything, at a time when Tommy Hilfiger was super preppy and featured mostly (if not all) white models. Part of Hilfiger's success at that time could be attributed to the fact that, yes, we all wanted to live the Hilfiger lifestyle, playing tennis and sipping on champagne in The Hamptons. It's this very white upper-class lifestyle that Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, and countless others sell. Would having a black or Asian or hispanic model selling this lifestyle make it any more 'real' in the context of the lifestyle being sold? Is it a coincidence that once Hilfiger changed its aesthetic to accommodate the hip hop market, it suddenly went out of style?

2) Supermodels are supermodels because regular people don't look like them.

While it's true that it's hard for visible minorities to look at any fashion campaign and be able to relate to any of the glamourous white models that appear in those ads, but couldn't the same be said for a white person as well? Supermodels are supermodels because regular people don't look like them. This is irregardless of race or ethnicity. A white girl looking through Vogue will likely not see a photo of Kate Moss and be able to relate to Kate Moss on the basis of her being white. Supermodels are super thin, abnormally tall, and perfectly symmetrical, no matter what their race. Most people, including white girls, are not. Again, fashion advertising is not about representing reality.

Recently, Paolo Roldan, a Filipino Canadian male model has been front and centre at ultra high-end fashion house Givenchy. In fact, he was even given the prestigious honour of closing Givenchy's Fall/Winter 2010 show. That's a pretty big deal. Being a Filipino Canadian male myself, do I feel any better represented at Givenchy because of Paolo Roldan? Not really. Maybe if they featured a short, average-built Filipino Canadian blogger, then yes, I would feel like I can relate to whatever it is they are selling -- but chances of that happening are slim to none.

I don't mean to imply that racism doesn't exist in the fashion world, because I'm certain it does, as it does it many other industries. However, I do think there are other factors at play (including socio-economic factors) that impose itself on the fashion industry to remain as white-washed as it is. The good news is that the world is changing, globalization is happening, and the Big Three emerging markets (India, China, and Brazil) are fast catching up to the USA -- all of which will surely change the face of fashion as well.

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Comments

Great analysis Adrian! I agree, fashion promotes a pretty unrealistic view of beauty and that is probably the larger issue rather than seeing diverse faces on ads and runways. That being said, it would still be nice to see "global" fashion reflect "global" faces and that extends beyond the typical Eastern European glamazon!

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