Fashion Shows This Season Were Slightly More Diverse

The Fall/Winter 2017 season of fashion month in New York, London, Milan and Paris may have been the most diverse ever.

Glossy reported that the runway shows held from February to early March saw representation of models of all races, gender identities, body sizes and ages. “Based on the preliminary findings of our semi-annual diversity report (which publishes this week), this was the most diverse season ever in terms of models of color, plus-size women, older women (over age 50) and transgender women across all cities,” Jennifer Davidson, the editor-in-chief of the Fashion Spot, told Glossy.

New York Fashion Week had its second-most diverse fashion week ever with 31.5% non-white models. Marc Jacobs’ show featured a number of transgender models, including Casil McArthur and Avie Acosta. Other highlights included the fashion week debut of Muslim model Halima Aden at Kanye West’s Yeezy show and curvy models like Ashley Graham and Candice Huffine strutting for Michael Kors and Prabal Gurung, respectively.

Milan Fashion Week, according to Glossy, tends to be the least diverse slew of shows for the past season. Aden, however, walked at MFW for Alberta Ferretti and Max Mara, while Bottega Veneta featured 43-year-old model Eva Herzigova. But some argued Milan still have work to do when it comes to diversity on the runway. Glossy noted that only 19 of Gucci’s 119 styles during MFW were worn by women of color.

And, despite the gains across cities, most would argue that the fashion industry still has a long way to go. “I will call it a success when we no longer even think about it and just see women of all sizes and ethnicities on the runways, without it being newsworthy,” Gary Dakin, the co-founder of JAG Models, told Glossy.

[Glossy]