Do Black Girls Rule?
Why We Don't Rip the Runways

By Marcia Cole

Spring 2008 New York Collections. Heatherette showed 10. Diane von Furstenberg had five. Gottex had six. And at all the major designers there were at least two. For what seems like a record-breaking year, New York fashion designers made black, the new black by strongly featuring African-American and African models. Chanel Iman, the Los Angeles-based teenager crowned by Vogue as the next supermodel ("she's been modeling for about two years," says her Ford rep) walked in over 17 shows. Liya Kebede, the Ethiopian beauty and first African-American (literally) to get a contract with Esteé Lauder, came in a close second with 10 shows. Newcomer Sabina Karlsson strutted down the runways of six shows, while veterans Alek Wek made appearances in at least two shows. Perhaps they received a tip off that Bethann Hardison, former model, and agency owner, who is known best for launching the careers of Tyson Beckford, and representing the majority of the top black models, such as Naomi, in their heyday, was holding a post-show summit to discuss the dearth of black models in the industry.

Her discussion, held on September 14th, sparked controversy as such conversations are wont to do. The dialogue continued further as from London to Milan to Paris, there were barely any darker shades of brown gracing the runways. British designer and grand dame, Vivienne Westwood took a stand in a recent London Telegraph article and denounced the magazine industry as racist, insisting that editors instill a quota of Black and Asian models to better represent cultural diversity. Recalling a conversation she had where the editor of a top magazine told her that when they use Black models, their sales drop, Westwood responded with: "They have to be prepared to take a drop every now and again and then people would get used to it and think, 'I should buy this magazine because there is a beautiful black girl on it."

Last night at the New York Public Library, the discussion was had again. This time featuring people behind-the-scenes (two booking agents, John Scully and David Ralph, plus fashion stylist Lori Goldstein and fashion designer Tracy Reese) to tell their version of why this exists. John Scully, who booked models for Gucci under Tom Ford, and was a model booker for Harper's Bazaar, remembers it being easy to be diverse with Gucci because "Tom Ford liked women of color." Not so much at Harper’s Bazaar. "It was the first time I had truly realized the racism," he told the audience. In an auditorium jam-packed with the Black fashion cognoscenti, Ms. Hardison held court to deliver this message: "If we were never let inside then I would say it wasn't for us. But we were once inside; we were once included and it worked. I hate to see us achieve so much, then go all the way back." This prompted a flurry of questions about entering the fashion club. Photographer Marc Baptiste then asked the question: "In 2007, then what is the solution?" Jason Campbell of the JC Report and contributing writer to style.com answered: "Why not form our own club." We couldn’t agree more.