Soulful R&B songstress Erykah Badu has become the new face of Givenchy’s spring 2014 campaign and serves as yet another example of how the fashion label is pushing to diversify the modeling and fashion industries.
In an industry where thin white models reign supreme, Badu’s beautiful brown skin and lovely curves have made her a star with the Givenchy label.
Givenchy’s creative director, Riccardo Tisci, said the decision to call on Badu for the new campaign was an easy one.
“[Erykah Badu is] one of the most stylish women I’ve met in my life,” Tisci told Style.com about the 42-year-old.
He also praised Badu for her “good sense of proportion, or colors” when it comes to fashion.
Of course, this new campaign represented a lot more than just Badu’s fashion sense. It also reminded people of how the label has already been pushing for diversity before it was such a hot topic in the media.
“It’s 2013… At the end of the day, why are not so many black girls or Latin girls in shows?” Tisci questioned. “When you have an American president who is black! When I see this happening, it’s quite sad, I think.”
He event went on to slam designers who believe they are “avant-garde” for not adding women of color to their campaigns and runway shows.
“People can be so avant-garde, so advanced, but actually not, because people are still making differences between skin color,” he said.
Tisci said that spreading diversity in the industry is the equivalent of spreading love and that’s his goal.
“What I want to do with my advertising campaign is spread the love,” he said. “Already now it’s been three seasons that I’ve been using people that express something — they are great artists or beautiful women or stylish women or models that I really believe in. It’s kind of a family portfolio.”
Badu herself also sang Tisci’s praises as she talked about his desire to “break barriers” in the fashion world.
“He said he wanted to break barriers,” she said. “There were models of colors he actually discovered, and this is one more perfect example or him using his platform to make a political statement. Whenever an artist uses black anything, you’re making a political statement.”
In addition to adding African-American and Latino models in many of its campaigns, Givenchy has also reached out to transgendered models, mother-daughter duos, curvy models and other types who have been deemed as “taboo” in the fashion world.
