At the recently held Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Jo’burg, South African talent Selfi drew inspiration for her collection from the Khoisan indigenous culture and dynamic fashion team Mille Collines was inspired by model Aamito Lagum and her beautiful lips. Their collections were delightful and both runway shows featured a predominantly black brigade of models. Now imagine they showed their collections, in South Africa, in Jo’burg, on an all-white squad of models? Suffice to say, it would have been ill-received.
And yet, so many designers take inspiration from Black, Hispanic, Native-American, Mexican and Asian culture, while casting only white models in their shows. STILL! Yes folks, it is 2016, and too many (but let’s be honest, even one is too many) designers have a de facto whites-only policy. The pressing question is: why has this gone on for so very long without people noticing? And why is it still happening?
Last year Givenchy gave us Mexican Chola gang girls (below) on the runway which sparked outrage over cultural appropriation. (It also sparked a wet baby hair trend).