Showing posts with label london. Show all posts
Showing posts with label london. Show all posts
10.31.2007
10.14.2007
Runways Fade to White
By GUY TREBAY
Published: October 14, 2007
IN the days of blithe racial assumptions, flesh crayons were the color of white people. “Invisible” makeup and nude pantyhose were colored in the hues of Caucasian skin. The decision by manufacturers to ignore whole segments of humanity went unchallenged for decades before the civil rights movement came along and nonwhite consumers started demanding their place on the color wheel.
THE LINEUP
At recent spring shows, black models were scarce or nonexistent, including at the Chloé show in Paris, above.
Nowadays the cultural landscape is well populated with actors, musicians, media moguls and candidates for the American presidency drawn from the 30 percent of the American population that is not white. Yet, if there is one area where the lessons of chromatic and racial diversity have gone largely unheeded, it is fashion. This reality was never plainer than during the recent showings of the women’s spring 2008 collections in New York and Europe.
Although black women in the United States spend more than $20 billion on apparel each year, according to estimates by TargetMarketNews.com, it was hard to discern an awareness of this fact on the part of designers showing in New York, where black faces were more absent from runways than they have been in years.
Of the 101 shows and presentations posted on Style.com during the New York runway season, which ended a month ago, more than a third employed no black models, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Most of the others used just one or two. When the fashion caravan moved to London, Paris and Milan, the most influential shows — from Prada to Jil Sander to Balenciaga to Chloé and Chanel — made it appear as if someone had hung out a sign reading: No Blacks Need Apply.
“It’s the worst it’s ever been,” said Bethann Hardison, a former model who went on to start a successful model agency in the 1980s that promoted racial diversity.
AMONG the people she represented were Naomi Campbell and Tyson Beckford, the chiseled hunk who broke barriers in the 1990s by becoming the unexpected symbol of the country-club fantasia that is a Ralph Lauren Polo campaign.
“It’s heartbreaking for me now because the agents send the girls out there to castings and nobody wants to see them,” said Ms. Hardison, referring to black models. “And if they do, they’ll call afterward and say, ‘Well, you know, black girls do much better in Europe, or else black girls do much better in New York, or we already have our black girl.’”
Last month in New York, Ms. Hardison convened a panel of fashion experts at the Bryant Park Hotel to discuss “The Lack of the Black Image in Fashion Today,” an event she will reprise Monday at the New York Public Library on 42nd Street. “Modeling is probably the one industry where you have the freedom to refer to people by their color and reject them in their work,” she said.
The exclusion is rarely subtle. An agent for the modeling firm Marilyn once told Time magazine of receiving requests from fashion clients that baldly specified “Caucasians only.”
The message is not always so blatant these days, but it is no less clear. Take for example the case of two young models, one white, one black, both captivating beauties at the start of their careers. Irina Kulikova, a feline 17-year-old Russian, appeared on no fewer than 24 runways in New York last month, a success she went on to repeat in Milan with 14 shows, and in Paris with 24 more. Honorine Uwera, a young Canadian of Rwandan heritage, was hired during the New York season for just five runway shows.
FRESH FACE
Honorine Uwera was hired for five New York shows, too few to justify a trip to Europe.
While Ms. Uwera’s showing was respectable, it was not enough to justify the cost to her agency of sending her to Europe, where most modeling careers are solidified.
“We represent a lot of ethnic girls,” said Ivan Bart, the senior vice president of IMG Models, which represents a roster of the commercially successful models of the moment, among them black superstars like Alek Wek, Ms. Campbell and Liya Kebede.
“We have new girls, too,” Mr. Bart added, young comers like Ms. Uwera, Quiana Grant and Mimi Roche. “We include them in our show package, give them the same promotion as any other girl, and get the same responses: ‘She’s lovely, but she’s not right for the show.’”
Although, in fact, Ms. Roche and Ms. Grant, both black, were seen on runways in the last five weeks, the reality was that only one black model worked at anything like the frequency of her white counterparts: Chanel Iman Robinson, 17, who is African-American and Korean. Particularly in Milan and Paris, Ms. Robinson’s was often the only nonwhite face amid a blizzard of Eastern European blondes.
It is not just a handful of genetically gifted young women who are hurt by this exclusion. Vast numbers of consumers draw their information about fashion and identity from runways, along with cues about what, at any given moment, the culture decrees are the new contours of beauty and style.
Published: October 14, 2007
IN the days of blithe racial assumptions, flesh crayons were the color of white people. “Invisible” makeup and nude pantyhose were colored in the hues of Caucasian skin. The decision by manufacturers to ignore whole segments of humanity went unchallenged for decades before the civil rights movement came along and nonwhite consumers started demanding their place on the color wheel.
THE LINEUPAt recent spring shows, black models were scarce or nonexistent, including at the Chloé show in Paris, above.
Although black women in the United States spend more than $20 billion on apparel each year, according to estimates by TargetMarketNews.com, it was hard to discern an awareness of this fact on the part of designers showing in New York, where black faces were more absent from runways than they have been in years.
Of the 101 shows and presentations posted on Style.com during the New York runway season, which ended a month ago, more than a third employed no black models, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Most of the others used just one or two. When the fashion caravan moved to London, Paris and Milan, the most influential shows — from Prada to Jil Sander to Balenciaga to Chloé and Chanel — made it appear as if someone had hung out a sign reading: No Blacks Need Apply.
“It’s the worst it’s ever been,” said Bethann Hardison, a former model who went on to start a successful model agency in the 1980s that promoted racial diversity.
AMONG the people she represented were Naomi Campbell and Tyson Beckford, the chiseled hunk who broke barriers in the 1990s by becoming the unexpected symbol of the country-club fantasia that is a Ralph Lauren Polo campaign.
“It’s heartbreaking for me now because the agents send the girls out there to castings and nobody wants to see them,” said Ms. Hardison, referring to black models. “And if they do, they’ll call afterward and say, ‘Well, you know, black girls do much better in Europe, or else black girls do much better in New York, or we already have our black girl.’”
Last month in New York, Ms. Hardison convened a panel of fashion experts at the Bryant Park Hotel to discuss “The Lack of the Black Image in Fashion Today,” an event she will reprise Monday at the New York Public Library on 42nd Street. “Modeling is probably the one industry where you have the freedom to refer to people by their color and reject them in their work,” she said.
The exclusion is rarely subtle. An agent for the modeling firm Marilyn once told Time magazine of receiving requests from fashion clients that baldly specified “Caucasians only.”
The message is not always so blatant these days, but it is no less clear. Take for example the case of two young models, one white, one black, both captivating beauties at the start of their careers. Irina Kulikova, a feline 17-year-old Russian, appeared on no fewer than 24 runways in New York last month, a success she went on to repeat in Milan with 14 shows, and in Paris with 24 more. Honorine Uwera, a young Canadian of Rwandan heritage, was hired during the New York season for just five runway shows.
FRESH FACE Honorine Uwera was hired for five New York shows, too few to justify a trip to Europe.
While Ms. Uwera’s showing was respectable, it was not enough to justify the cost to her agency of sending her to Europe, where most modeling careers are solidified.
“We represent a lot of ethnic girls,” said Ivan Bart, the senior vice president of IMG Models, which represents a roster of the commercially successful models of the moment, among them black superstars like Alek Wek, Ms. Campbell and Liya Kebede.
“We have new girls, too,” Mr. Bart added, young comers like Ms. Uwera, Quiana Grant and Mimi Roche. “We include them in our show package, give them the same promotion as any other girl, and get the same responses: ‘She’s lovely, but she’s not right for the show.’”
Although, in fact, Ms. Roche and Ms. Grant, both black, were seen on runways in the last five weeks, the reality was that only one black model worked at anything like the frequency of her white counterparts: Chanel Iman Robinson, 17, who is African-American and Korean. Particularly in Milan and Paris, Ms. Robinson’s was often the only nonwhite face amid a blizzard of Eastern European blondes.
It is not just a handful of genetically gifted young women who are hurt by this exclusion. Vast numbers of consumers draw their information about fashion and identity from runways, along with cues about what, at any given moment, the culture decrees are the new contours of beauty and style.
10.08.2007
Kate Moss Joins the Olympic Bid
British supermodel Kate Moss wants the Olympic Games to be held in her native country. The beauty has joined her fashion friends Paul Smith, Mario Testino and Sam Taylor-Wood in their new project 40 Artists, 40 Days, to raise awareness of the attempt of the United Kingdom to host the XXX Olympic Games.Paris, New York, Moscow, Madrid and London are vying, making bids, to host the 2012 Olympic Games, and in early July the results will be announced. Britain will be counting down 40 days till July 5, the day the International Olympic Committee will choose a city to host the Games. Until that time, photos of Kate Moss, made by fashion photographer Mario Testino, will be dispayed on Tate Online, www.tate.org.uk/40artists40days, alongside with other original videos, music, texts, performances and visual art.
Moss will be photographed by Testino for the project which will tout some of the city’s unique selling points, including Paul Smith’s London logo and boxing prodigy Amir Khan photographed by Taylor-Wood.
"The vision for 2012 is that sport and the arts will come together in London for the biggest celebration this city has ever known," said Tate Online director Sir Nicholas Serota, according to British Vogue.
Meantime Moss' boyfriend Pete Doherty dreams to marry the supermodel the next weekend. The Babyshamble’s frontman says:
"We're driving through Gretna Green next weekend, so who knows? I might be able to persuade her,” femalefirst.co.uk cited the singer.
"Kate's been there for me. She's my rock. Not my rock of crack though."
10.05.2007
McCartney brings sport to London, flowers to Paris
By Kerstin Gehmlich Thu Oct 4, 1:30 PM ETPARIS (Reuters) - Models in flower-power dresses strutted out from behind a leafy hanging garden in Stella McCartney's fashion show on Thursday, as her father, ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, applauded proudly from the front row.
Just two weeks after having presented sleek fitness outfits for sportswear maker Adidas in London, the British designer rolled out a selection of romantic, ruffled floor-length dresses for her own line in the French capital.
"It was very sexy, very feminine," Paul McCartney said before disappearing behind a wall of ferns, brakes and sedges at the end of the catwalk to congratulate his daughter backstage. "She's the best!" he said.
McCartney, a strict vegetarian who does not use fur in her collections, said the vertical wall reflected her love of English country gardens.
The 36-year-old, pregnant with her third child, said she would donate the wall to a non-profit organization promoting urban ecology afterwards.
"You invest so much money in these shows. It would be a shame to throw it all away afterwards," she said backstage.
McCartney's ready-to-wear collection picked up on the nature theme, with some models walking out in long, floating dresses covered with flowery prints, and others presenting transparent, silky shirt dresses in shades of ivory or light blue.
McCartney's ex-Beatle dad took pictures from the front row as models in silky all-in-ones strutted over the catwalk.
PARIS GIRLS, LONDON GIRLS
McCartney's romantic outfits for next spring and summer struck a contrast with the tailored golfing shorts and the flirty tennis skirts she presented for Adidas in London.
Singer Lily Allen said she was a big fan of both McCartney collections, adding both London and Paris had their own defining style. The difference?
"London girls just got it," Allen told Reuters before the show, laughing. "(Paris girls) maybe less so," she joked.
Fashion label Celine, owned by LVMH, has been closely associated with the French capital, with Paris landmarks often featuring in its campaigns or as backdrops to catwalk shows.
On Thursday, Croatian designer Ivana Omazic, who was appointed at Celine in 2005, brought out models in brightly shimmering pink dresses and corset-style tops. One girl walked out in a dress held up by a sparkling metal choker.
"I used some materials and colors typically used in French couture, but linked them to more sporty shapes. So I was playing around with some cliches on French couture," Omazic said.
London fashion week, held two weeks before the Paris shows, had a special buzz this year with McCartney, Matthew Williamson and Luella, three of Britain's best known designers, returning from New York and Paris to stage one-off shows.
But Didier Grumbach, the head of France's fashion federation, said he was not worried about Paris losing its edge.
"Here in Paris, people have never presented second lines," he told Reuters. "If you have a second line, you have to present it in London or Milan. Paris is for first lines."
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