Some Politics of Fashion

Londoner Jourdan Dunn

So this post was inspired by an excellent conversation that I had on Twitter with the ever-intellectual Jo Genius. It started with a comment I made, that is the first paragraph of this blog, and quickly turned into a diatribe on race within the fashion industry.

I'm sorry, but I don't consider Dominican, Cuban, Filipino, or any other Hispanic/Dark-skinned/etc models 'Black.' That only plays more into this notion that only 'exotic' Black girls (ones with browner skin, straighter hair, smaller features) are beautiful.

Dominican Arlenis Sosa

Regular, around the way Black girls are not seen as beautiful by our Europeanized concepts of American beauty. To be a Black girl in fashion, you have to be some type of anomaly. A dark-skinned Hispanic, like Arlenis Sosa... an ethnic chamelon, like half Swedish, half Nigerian Sabina Karlsson... or a straight-out-of Africa exhibit, like Alek Wek.

Swedish Sabina Karlsson

E-zine Coco and Creme listed 7 Models of Color to Keep an Eye On and out of the list, only two were American. The rest hailed from foreign locales like Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. And these 'exotic anomalies' give fashion a get out of jail free card: 'What are those Blacks complaining about, the runways are whitewashed? We've got Jourdan Dunn.' Um, NO.

I also think it's kind of offensive to marginalize the fact that these models ARE other nationalities and NOT Black. All minority cultures and ethnicities out of the African Diaspora are NOT interchangeable. Let the Dominicans and the Brits have their icon... WE need one of our own.

And I don't mean Realworld... because in the real world I def find it utterly ridiculous that Dominicans darker than me absolutely REFUSE to identify as Black. But in Fashionworld they take these notions, flip them on their heads and manage to use them against us. *sigh* I'd just love to see a beautiful Black girl on the runway w/out having a tropical island attached to her name.

Jo said it best: But thats America for you. Regular White girls from Iowa/Minnesota- YEP. Regular black chicks from Queens- NOPE.