Why is racism in high fashion still wildly accepted?

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Madness

Member
I would like to see pictures of these models and compare to these other types. Make all types of comparisons for your areas to see if there is any truth to this.


9252409cd98e34d9b0be7fc0b0bb3a7b.jpg


Who is this?

Indian model/actress Priyanka Chopra, also does the song "in my city" for the NFL Network Thursday night game I believe.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
So I'm wrong for disliking a race I'm a part of that's responsible for some really fucked up shit in history that I completely disapprove of and disagree with? Sorry, I don't think "white is right", quite the opposite really.

Really tired of discrimination against minorities, it gets fucking old. I remember being young and learning about America being the melting pot... then I grew up and realized that whites have been dominating and discriminating against other races for all of history. Makes me sick.

Race and culture, of which the latter is responsible for the things you have problems with, are two different things. Disliking a race of people is wrong. Disliking a culture isn't, at least not inherently.
 
Trust me. I know what high fashion is and black guys wear it. I find it very strange how dismissive of my statement you were and jumped to streetwear which was never even brought up in the conversation
well it's odd since i'd quickly run out of fingers if I listed the number of high fashion labels that have riffed off of streetwear (rick owens being like, the prime example)
 

Enzom21

Member
Trust me. I know what high fashion is and black guys wear it. I find it very strange how dismissive of my statement you were and jumped to streetwear which was never even brought up in the conversation

Well apparently, "streetwear" is the only thing us Negroes wear... oh and we don't buy expensive things either.

This is a great thread!
 

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Well apparently, "streetwear" is the only thing us Negroes wear... oh and we don't buy expensive things either.

This is a great thread!

Look if I see a black man handling expensive clothes, I immediately call the fashion police. Then store security.
 

Sol..

I am Wayne Brady.
I'm tired of racism being the default explanation for so many when they run into someone who has different opinions than them. It's ridiculous.

At first this statement confused me, but then I realized I do tend to call people that prefer sushi over fried chicken fucking bigots and that's wrong.

I learned something about myself today.
 
I don't even know what the hell you're getting at here.

What in the flying fuck am I reading?

This sounds terrible and nonsensicial. What do you mean?

Hear me out.

I'm a Hispanic minority. I'm well aware of the racial and ethnic baggage that comes with being non-White. I have to deal with zealous cops and strange stares when leaving the city for the suburbs and all kinds of things I could write a book about, but I don't want media to cater to me to make me feel involved.

The high fashion world is a weird and somewhat insular world, but the influences by the big designers trickle down to your local Walmart. High fashion designers work with tons of different fabrics and materials and are influenced by political movements and the social climate. Remember when grunge wear was a thing in the 90s? Or when Calvin Klein got shit for using black models to market his polowear? In those worlds you create controversy to move units. I'm not talking out of my ass. The fashion world doesn't need to feature Hispanic models for me or other Hispanics to buy their clothing. What drives those decisions in a household is value and quality and design complexity. I buy Banana Republic because it's a good quality cut and fits well, and for the design and fabric, it'll last through multiple washes. My dad has a degree in fashion merchandising and I worked a while in a fashion house before I decided I didn't want to be a poorly paid employee the rest of my life.

TL:DR I want quality over inclusion. Yes, I'm Hispanic.
 

Vox-Pop

Contains Sucralose
The real question should be why are the current models so horrible? Can't name a new model this season I liked.

New visa work laws also made it harder to just drag anyone from Eastern Europe, Russia, or Latin America.

Also, fashion houses should be allowed to cast whomever they want, even if it is all white women.

Miss you Freja, come back. :(
 

Shinta

Banned
lol but seriously I can't even accuse there of being a tenuous connection when I don't see one. Minorities modeling clothes suddenly makes the quality of the clothes inferior?

I don't think he was saying that at all. He is saying he's interested in quality clothes, and that seeing models the same race as himself modeling the clothes is something he largely considers irrelevant and useless. He just looks at the clothes, and not the marketing.
 
I don't understand why you assume inclusion means inferior quality.

I'm not assuming lesser quality. I'm assuming that if I spend 100-200 on a button up shirt, it better damn well last me more than a couple years. Same way that if I pay 40 for a similar button up, but it has a much cheaper fabric(maybe a blended fabric), I can't expect it to last me a full year or 2 without being donated or thrown out.
 
lol but seriously I can't even accuse there of being a tenuous connection when I don't see one. Minorities modeling clothes suddenly makes the quality of the clothes inferior?

It's crazy because the same thing was said about Polo back in the day when black guys- especially in hip hop started to wear it more
 

Yado

Member
I'm not assuming lesser quality. I'm assuming that if I spend 100-200 on a button up shirt, it better damn well last me more than a couple years. Same way that if I pay 40 for a similar button up, but it has a much cheaper fabric(maybe a blended fabric), I can't expect it to last me a full year or 2 without being donated or thrown out.

Yes...but what's the correlation between this and diversity in the fashion industry?
 
I don't think he was saying that at all. He is saying he's interested in quality clothes, and that seeing models in the same race as himself is something he largely considers irrelevant and useless. He just looks at the clothes, and not the marketing.

This. I can't believe I'm being called a racist because I like quality in my life.
 
I'm not assuming lesser quality. I'm assuming that if I spend 100-200 on a button up shirt, it better damn well last me more than a couple years. Same way that if I pay 40 for a similar button up, but it has a much cheaper fabric(maybe a blended fabric), I can't expect it to last me a full year or 2 without being donated or thrown out.

So why even post at all if all you care about is the quality? Why use "quality" as some kind of cudgel to argue that minority representation shouldn't matter? It can and does matter in media. Media shapes perceptions and expectations. You can get your "quality" without these companies shunning or stereotyping groups of people.
 
I don't think he was saying that at all. He is saying he's interested in quality clothes, and that seeing models the same race as himself modeling the clothes is something he largely considers irrelevant and useless. He just looks at the clothes, and not the marketing.
ok, but why do we default to white if it didn't matter to consumers? look at balmain menswear. lookbooks are white-exclusive. designer is black. i just find it... odd.

This. I can't believe I'm being called a racist because I like quality in my life.
why buy banana republic tho. should at least upgrade to facconable or michael bastian.

and anyway, i'm not sure what this has to do with 'high fashion' as the op is talking about. stuff like vman, another man, numero, etc. a dude being black, grey, or purple doesn't really matter much when this is the output:

spring%253Asummer+2011+issue+of+Another+Man.jpg
 

BHZ Mayor

Member
I'm not assuming lesser quality. I'm assuming that if I spend 100-200 on a button up shirt, it better damn well last me more than a couple years. Same way that if I pay 40 for a similar button up, but it has a much cheaper fabric(maybe a blended fabric), I can't expect it to last me a full year or 2 without being donated or thrown out.

This doesn't make fucking sense at all. What does all this bullshit have to do with the color of the person advertising it?
 

SmoothCB

Member
The desire to be white by girls here in China is out of control. Many of them are getting their whole face done with results that make them look like freaky teenage white chics.

90% of my girlfriends's friends have had at least something done to make their features more Caucasian--but she hasn't thank god.
 

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
ok, but why do we default to white if it didn't matter to consumers? look at balmain menswear. lookbooks are white-exclusive. designer is black. i just find it... odd.

Perhaps it's the market? It's not like there aren't African-based fashion magazines and African designers who are solely using black models.
 
So why even post at all if all you care about is the quality? Why use "quality" as some kind of cudgel to argue that minority representation shouldn't matter? It can and does matter in media. Media shapes perceptions and expectations. You can get your "quality" without these companies shunning or stereotyping groups of people.

I'm posting to express my opinion about fashion. You posted to express your opinion about fashion. We don't agree, but that doesn't make my opinion lesser than yours.

I'm not using quality as a clutch. I use quality as my personal barometer of what I like and I don't like. Quality involves a lot of things that I look for, as well as others look for. I can't speak for what corporations do, but if I agree or disagree with their practices, I vote with my dollars.

You're implying that high fashion is actively discriminating against people of color. I agree, but it's more complex than you're making it out to be, especially since labor laws and employment laws come into play. All those Brazilian models you see on tv now are not paid well all of the time, or are paid in clothing. They're also young and are plucked from home to get a chance to see the states but are exploited and then deported if they don't behave.
 
Perhaps it's the market? It's not like there aren't African-based fashion magazines and African designers who are solely using black models.
well that's what i'm getting at... the why. and i don't know of many high-fashion mags that cater to african clients, but i could be wrong. and if the market is like doktorevil and doesn't care, then why the huge difference in numbers?
 

Shinta

Banned
ok, but why do we default to white if it didn't matter to consumers? look at balmain menswear. lookbooks are white-exclusive. designer is black. i just find it... odd.

I have no idea honestly.

My personal take on it is that looking for equality in high fashion is a fool's errand. By their very nature they are exclusionary. They don't showcase anyone that could really be considered "ugly" unless it's some kind of ironic and exotic ugly. They don't showcase anyone that's not super skinny.

Before we even move on to race, we've already established here that the norm for these people is to look down on most of the population and only pick a small handful of them to use as models.

Add race into the mix and who knows what their motivation really is? Is it sales, status, tradition, or straight up racism? I don't pretend to know. The difference is that I don't pretend to care either.

They're an insular, highly judgmental community of snobs that define their lives by obsessing about how they look. Trying to convince these people to pick something other than what they want seems like a fool's errand. Fashion is their art, and artists can do whatever they want in my opinion. How many minorities actual try to break into high fashion? What are the numbers on that statistically? I have no idea so if anyone knows, that would be interesting.

Most of these people are probably liberals, like most artists, so I don't know how much I believe actual racism is the motivation behind it. It's certainly possible, but without any detailed knowledge of the situation, I don't like to label people with that until I'm sure.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I have no idea honestly.

My personal take on it is that looking for equality in high fashion is a fool's errand. By their very nature they are exclusionary. They don't showcase anyone that could really be considered "ugly" unless it's some kind of ironic and exotic ugly. They don't showcase anyone that's not super skinny.

Before we even move on to race, we've already established here that the norm for these people is to look down on most of the population and only pick a small handful of them to use as models.

Add race into the mix and who knows what their motivation really is? Is it sales, status, tradition, or straight up racism? I don't pretend to know. The difference is that I don't pretend to care either.

They're an insular, highly judgmental community of snobs that define their lives by obsessing about how they look. Trying to convince these people to pick something other than what they want seems like a fool's errand. Fashion is their art, and artists can do whatever they want in my opinion.

Most of these people are probably liberals, like most artists, so I don't know how much I believe actual racism is the motivation behind it. It's certainly possible, but without any detailed knowledge of the situation, I don't like to label people with that until I'm sure.
This is one of the most reasonable responses in a thread full of insanity.
 

BHZ Mayor

Member
Most of these people are probably liberals, like most artists, so I don't know how much I believe actual racism is the motivation behind it. It's certainly possible, but without any detailed knowledge of the situation, I don't like to label people with that until I'm sure.

You know who else is mostly liberals? This forum, and the racism here is fucking palpable.
 

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
This sounds a lot like the "you already have BET/Black History Month" argument.

You sound eager to get into a debate if that's what it sounds like to you, but this is common online I guess, so no surprises here.

I'm not advocating for a "White Fashion" magazine (or White Entertainment Television), I'm claiming to not know the answers to the OP's question but hypothesizing some possibilities. I don't know the demographics of models or the demographics of major international publications, and I'm assuming you or others in this thread don't either, but I'm stating that it -may- be a reason why a lot of models are white. I was using African designers and magazines using black models as an example of this. I don't think an African magazine or designer using mainly black models is racist and I don't think BET is racist. Similarly, if the majority of a fashion magazine's readers are white, I don't think using mainly white models is necessarily racist.
 
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