Apart from the dream designs he created for the fashion world, the trends he signed every season, and the magnificent shows he held, the most talked about in recent years is the steps he has taken in terms of sustainability, inclusivity and diversity. The fashion shows, in which brands collect various grades, measure the inclusiveness of fashion as the subject of various researches and surveys conducted according to age, gender, race and body categories of models walking on the runway.
So, with what grades will they pass the fashion shows class this season?
You may have noticed that the Spring/Summer 2022 season, which appears in all kinds of visual and written media, from fashion magazines to social media, takes the stage with very sexy designs, decollete spreads all over the body , and fashion shows offer a magnificent riot of colors.
Didn’t we deserve to feel good, to be happy and dream, to be pampered aesthetically, especially after the pandemic? Fashion certainly doesn’t disappoint in these benchmarks this season.
Well, have you noticed the models that bring this magical world to your feet as you wander among rainbow colors, sexy pieces, optimistic fuchsias and endless tassels?
According to the news of thefashionspot.com, which published this season’s diversity statistics by meticulously examining Paris, Milan, New York and London fashion weeks, which exhibited the 2022 summer season fashion shows, the 2022 summer fashion shows managed to make history especially on racial diversity.
Although not very good in terms of size, age and gender, the achievements are worth talking about.
While you may be browsing the fashion shows, you may not have noticed the variety, but rather the striking black mini dress she wore instead of the gray-haired Kristen McMenamy at Valentino. Or, you may have remembered the decoupage and asymmetrical dresses of Ester Manas, who came to the fore with a 100% inclusive fashion show, rather than models in different sizes. Actually, this is a good thing…
COLLINA STRADA
The dream of a world where these issues will no longer be talked about, where differences have been internalized and normalized, is the desire of all of us, even though it seems utopian. But until the day when diversity and inclusion will cease to be an issue and become ordinary, it is very important to talk about these in the fashion world in order to draw attention and raise awareness, to grade the assignments that the industry has made on this subject and to remind it of its responsibilities. With the extensive research of Thefashionspot.com, we discuss the steps taken by fashion shows in diversity.
RECORD: 48 OF 100 MODELS ARE NOT WHITE
The research shows that the summer season, which hosted 4471 models in 198 shows, broke a record in race diversity compared to previous seasons, with 48 percent of non-white models, He begins by emphasizing that while this rate was 43 percent in the previous season, it increased by five percent in the Spring/Summer 2022 season. Considering the fact that pluralism is always discussed more in America, and the country is more sensitive about freedom and discrimination, it should come as no surprise that New York Fashion Week occupies the forefront of racial diversity with 55.5 percent. This number is followed by London with 52.4 percent, Paris with 43.9% and Milan with 43.3 percent.
Naomi Campbell, who is the name that walks the most on the runway among the models over 50 years old, dazzled with a magnificent mesh dress. Ester Manas’ very sexy and feminine fashion show got full marks for diversity.
The killing of black George Floyd by a white police officer in 2020 and the ongoing hate speech against black people; As police brutality and racist treatment spawned nationwide protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, the fashion world and professionals began to think about what could be done to better protect minority rights and promote racial diversity in the industry.
New York Fashion Week’s numerical lead on racial diversity; It should be read within the sociological framework mentioned above.
TWO LEADING BRANDS ON THE PODIUMS
Body diversity and especially plus size is one of the criteria of pluralism. Thefashionspot.com’s report emphasizes that the Spring/Summer 2020 season ranked first with 86 models in plus size, while the 2022 season lagged behind previous seasons with 81 plus size models. In short, it is clear that summer fashion shows do not perform very well in terms of body diversity.
New York Fashion Week hosts 48 plus size models for the summer season, followed by Paris with 18 models, Milan with nine and London with six models.
American designer Christian Siriano has shown how broad and limitless the definition of beauty is by integrating different cultures and morphologies into his fashion shows for years. She was on the stage again in the 2022 summer season with a fashion show emphasizing diversity.
As you can see, America is much more progressive than other countries in body diversity, just like in the racial criterion. Christian Siriano and Laquan Smith, who made a fashion show at New York Fashion Week, are quite assertive about body diversity. The swimwear brand Chromat, which has been making fashion shows with plus-size models for years, also followed this rule and put its name on a very inclusive show this season.
When we look at Paris Fashion Week, which follows New York Fashion Week, it is impossible not to mention Ester Manas, who we can say that she had a 100% inclusive fashion show.
Established by two designers, Ester Manas and Balthazar Delepierre, Ester Manas brand made history in terms of inclusivity and diversity in fashion with its fashion show that made almost entirely of plus-size models.
Applauding pluralism in fashion with the slogan “Dress Different” and emphasizing that all kinds of differences take their place in the wide cake of the design world, the brand ignores the show part of the fashion show and just ignores the show part of the fashion show with its plus size models that it carries out on a completely undecorated and plain podium. underscoring this difference, raising awareness about the normalization of large bodies.
Sexy, transparent, flounced and windowed designs achieved harmony with large sizes, and it was strong enough to break the prejudice that only thin bodies would look aesthetically pleasing, which is engraved in the subconscious of many of us.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the champion of diversity in Paris Fashion Week, which draws attention with 18 models with different body sizes, is Valentino, who applauds every body and every age.
Contrary to ready-to-wear fashion shows, where differences are more visible, haute couture fashion shows, in which both the body and the most “perfect” and “perfect” state of design are reflected, are not familiar with diversity.
Valentino was breaking new ground with his 2022 haute couture summer fashion show, approaching the concept of beauty with a much broader and more democratic perspective by giving life to his collection, which he named Anatomy of Couture, through women of different sizes and ages.
size 40 model Jill Kortleve, director and producer Marie-Sophie Wilson, who is over 50, top model Kristen McMenamy, Sudanese model Akon Changkou, were breaking the taboos at the haute couture fashion shows and raising the fashion’s diversity scorecard average.
Apart from Theophilio brand, which put on a very colorful fashion show with models from different ethnic origins and praises the Jamaican culture, Valentino has also written his name in fashion history in terms of diversity this season. Models of all ages and sizes played the leading role in the haute couture fashion show, which went beyond the usual beauty standards.
WHAT IS NEEDED FOR A FAIR APPROACH?
When the age and gender criteria are examined after the size criterion, we unfortunately do not encounter a more inclusive view compared to previous seasons. Although in the 2022 summer season, 35 models over the age of 50 take the podium at fashion shows, and this number is higher than the previous season, which was 16, it is much lower than the figure of 44 in the Autumn/Winter 2020 -21 season, which means that while going two steps forward in general, it is a new one. The step reveals the reversal.
When we look at the gender diversity, we realize that the 2022 season did not reach the inclusiveness of the Spring/Summer 2019 season.
To summarize briefly; The 2022 summer season could not show the improvement in racial diversity in terms of age, gender and body. Since the increases achieved compared to a season ago were often behind the numbers in previous seasons, it did not make much sense in the general landscape.
How can we rejoice that New York Fashion Week is running 48 plus size models on the runway in the Spring/Summer 2022 season, knowing that this figure was 68 exactly two seasons ago in Spring/Summer 2020?
Fashion analysts emphasize that in order for the industry to demonstrate its credibility in diversity, it is necessary to include large sizes on the runway as a collection on the shelves of stores and on online sales sites, and that plus size models should not remain as mediators of a show-stopping inclusion in fashion shows.
In an interview with Polynesian plus size model Veronica Pome to editorialist.com, she explains that brands are content with only large sizes and avoid preparing plus size collections, which turns diversity into a strategic, commonplace and fraudulent trend.
tells Pome that when she meets with modeling agencies, she wants to see people of color or plus size in the team, otherwise she thinks it is ignored and used for show. “Having professionals who know how to do the makeup and hair of non-white models on fashion show sets is also the premise of diversity,” he continues to Pome.
The swimwear brand Chromat and Laquan Smith, which were founded with the philosophy of designing for every body, every age and every skin color, are the names that should be noted about gender diversity. But in general, the steps taken in this area are not enough (especially in fashion weeks outside of New York).
British model Bianca Mitsuko, who has worked in the plus size industry, also on editorialist.com, that the fashion world is not honest about this issue, and that the size variety criteria is small waist and hips, the upper part of her body looks relatively weak and strong, cheekbones protruding. He explains that he prefers models, that a choice is made again, and that models with these dimensions constitute the comfort zone of fashion.
LAST WORD
As the report published by Thefashionspot.com underlines, the Spring/Summer 2022 fashion shows, which achieved good numbers in racial diversity, are a very good way compared to previous years in terms of plus size, gender and age. has not passed. But still, the steps taken are worth talking about.
The issue of diversity and inclusion in fashion, which we examine in the light of thefashionspot.com’s research in parallel with fashion shows, is of course a much deeper issue. The issue of diversity deserves to be examined under many headings, from professionals working in different areas of the fashion industry to recruitment processes, from magazine covers to collections.
And what it deserves most is that it has become too ordinary to be considered worthy of being discussed one day, that it becomes normal, that it ends its mission and purpose in the colorful world from every angle we hope the fashion world will reach, and that no words are spoken on it.
Text: Selin Milosyan
Photos: Imaxtree.com, Getty Images Turkey
Retrieved from ELLE Turkey March 2022 issue.
