Jourdan Dunn has criticized the fashion industry for applauding designers who employ just one token Black model to walk in their shows.
The 23-year-old British star was a runway regular during fashion month, making one of her last appearances of the season in Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel supermarket, alongside Cara Delevingne and Stella Tennant, among others.
Speaking in the latest issue of “Miss Vogue,” she expressed her anger at being treated as a face hired by agents to fulfill a quota.
“I find it weird when agents say, ‘You’re the only Black girl booked for the show. Isn’t it great?’ Why is that great?
“I don’t know why people applaud designers for having just one ethnic model. It’s not like only one type of woman loves fashion.”
Dunn has long been a vocal campaigner for greater ethnic diversity on the catwalk.
Last year, she made the headlines after posting on Twitter her discontent with the lack of racial equality in fashion.
She wrote: “I’m normally told I’m canceled because I’m ‘colored’ so being canceled because [of] my boobs is a minor : ) [sic]”
Later clarifying her post, she told The Guardian’s The Fashion magazine: “I wanted to make a point, but not a dig. Girls get canceled last minute all the time, but at least it wasn’t because of my skin tone. Which I often get in Paris.
“The people higher than me – the stylists, the designers, the casting directors – they’re the ones with the power to change this. There’s where the conversation needs to happen… At big-dog level.
“The people who control the industry … They say if you have a Black face on a magazine cover it won’t sell – but there’s no real evidence for that.
“It’s lazy. You always hear, ‘There aren’t enough Black models,’ which is bulls***. It’s all about these dead excuses.”
Source: independent.co.uk
