We know what you're asking: The fashion industry is racist? No way! Fully 20% of the models at New York Fashion Week are people of color, and since 20% of the world's population is people of color, and... Wait, what's that you say? The world isn't 80% white? Don't you watch television?
OK, we digress. Of course the fashion industry is racist. Any institution that's been around since loin cloths will have had its share of ignorant and racist moments. What may surprise you is how many of the fashion industry's racist moments are of recent vintage.
Yes, we've got a black president (and he and his family introduced the era of "black classiness"—or so says French Elle), but fashion still has plenty of WTF moments. So wrap that African print scarf around your neck, don your Native American headdress, and let's take a walk down not-so-fond memory lane with our History of Racism in the Fashion Industry.
We know what you're asking: The fashion industry is racist? No way! Fully 20% of the models at New York Fashion Week are people of color, and since 20% of the world's population is people of color, and... Wait, what's that you say? The world isn't 80% white? Don't you watch television?
OK, we digress. Of course the fashion industry is racist. Any institution that's been around since loin cloths will have had its share of ignorant and racist moments. What may surprise you is how many of the fashion industry's racist moments are of recent vintage.
Yes, we've got a black president (and he and his family introduced the era of "black classiness"—or so says French Elle), but fashion still has plenty of WTF moments. So wrap that African print scarf around your neck, don your Native American headdress, and let's take a walk down not-so-fond memory lane with our History of Racism in the Fashion Industry.
The Black Dandy
Year: 1768
Tucked away into a small corner of time is the troubling history of dandyism and slavery. In England, the prevailing contest between slaveowners wasn't how many you owned, but how well they dressed. Adult males were forced to mimic the foppish dress of their upper-middle class owners—as if being ripped from your family and enslaved wasn't bad enough, they had to wear tight pants and makeup too.
Vogue Magazine Covers Are 99 Percent White
Year: 1892 - 2012
This one requires little explanation: Vogue magazine was started in 1892. In over 118 years and 1,416 covers, only 14 have featured minorities of any kind. That's less than 1%. OK then. As Jay-Z put it: men lie, women lie, numbers don't.
The Zoot Suit Riots
Year: 1943
The extravagant, fabric-laden suits of the Pachucos—an early Mexican-American youth culture with roots in the Southwest US—became the flashpoint for what would turn into a national battle. Tensions were riding high in L.A. between Mexicans and whites at the time, with the L.A. Times playing a huge part in stoking anti-Mexican sentiment. During World War II, fabric was being rationed, but underground tailors continued to produce oversized "zoot suits" to meet demand. White servicemen stationed along the Pacific Coast thought the continued presence of zoot suits constituted a lack of respect for the war effort. When the press used a series of crimes to incite xenophobia, a mob of thousands ran amok in L.A.'s Mexican neighborhoods, beating and stripping Pachucos of their zoot suits. The riots spread as far as Detroit and Harlem, even drawing commentary from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The L.A. Times fired back that the First Lady was a Communist.
Van Heusen "Witch Doctor" Ad
Year: 1952
Classic shirt maker Van Heusen was par for the course with its ad campaigns back in the caveman days (a.k.a. the '50s): one popular series of ads featured a man spanking his wife while wearing a crisp button-down that simply refused to wrinkle no matter how hard he beat his spouse. Another campaign featured a selection of men and their preference in button-down shirts: the kicker being that the evil-looking African witch doctor loves Van Heusen, while the blonde-haired guy prefers Brooks Brothers. OK, we get the joke, and it's tasteless through and through.
The Ebony Fashion Fair
Year: 1964
Ebony is a venerable media institution, started in 1945 to cater to the interests of the African-American community. Controversy around its mere existence dogged the publication for decades, but the ugliest incident occurred in the rural South during the Ebony Fashion Fair, a tour of noted African-American models and designers. Legendary model Pat Cleveland recalls their tour bus stopping at a gas station and an angry mob of predominately white males descending on the vehicle, attempting to tip it over. According to Cleveland, the same routine happened more than once, which begs the question: How do you end up so consumed by hatred that you try to tip over a bus full of beautiful women?
Vogue Magazine's First Black Cover Model
Year: 1966
Many people don't know that the first black model appeared on the cover of Vogue much earlier than popular history reports—unfortunately it just happens that her face was obscured. In 1966, Detroit model Donyale Luna graced the cover of Vogue with her hand strategically placed over her mouth and nose. Vogue allegedly made this stylistic decision to avoid scaring off people at the newsstands at a time when black faces in pop culture were still few and far between, particularly in the fashion world. It would take eight more years for Vogue to feature a black model's entire face.
Naomi Sims Deemed "Too Dark" For Modeling
Year: 1968
Naomi Sims didn't become a successful model just because she was a pretty face. After getting turned down for gigs by modeling agencies who felt her skin was "too dark" Sims took it upon herself to seek out fashion photographers directly, which paid off when New York Times photographer Gosta Petersen put her in the paper's fashion supplement in 1967. Afterward, Sims linked up with former model Wilhelmina Cooper, who was starting a fashion agency of her own. Initially, Cooper declined to represent Sims, but Sims told the veteran model that she would send out copies of the NYT piece, and if she got hired based on that work, the two would share the profits. It only took a year to book Naomi Sims' first cover on the November 1968 issue of Ladies' Home Journal, and the first black supermodel's career was officially established.
Boot Lace Color Codes
Year: 1973
Skinhead culture had relatively peaceful roots, until some groups of bareheaded youths, both black and white, started the practice known as "Paki bashing." Viciously attacking South Asian immigrants in the UK became an ugly fad in the late '60s that carried over into the early '70s, when many skinheads started to take an active interest in the rise of the National Front, a white nationalist group. To help identify which ones were National Front sympathizers, skins took to color-coding the laces on their boots. Codes varied from town to town, but generally, white laces on a black boot meant you were a white power skinhead—and red laces sometimes meant you had spilled blood for the white power movement.
Iman Gets "Discovered"
Year: 1975
When Iman first came to America, it was at the behest of photographer Peter Beard, who'd spent years traversing Africa shooting wildlife. He approached her in Kenya and snapped a few photos that eventually caught the attention of the Wilhemina Modeling Agency in New York. When Iman arrived at the agency however, she realized that Beard had cooked up a mythic take on her discovery, claiming she was a Somali goat shepherdess who didn't speak a word of English. Thankfully for her, the fact that she actually spoke English, Italian, Arabic, and Somali didn't detract from her stunning looks, and she landed on the cover of Vogue just a year later.
Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks Are Forced Into A Rivalry
Year: 1991-2006
When two black models rise into prominence, that's something to be celebrated right? That's not exactly how it went down between Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks. In a January 2006 episode of The Tyra Banks Show, Banks resolved to set the story straight on their supposed 14-year fashion beef. As Banks put it: “Back then there were 10 top models... but there was an unwritten rule that only one of them could be black... And Naomi was that one black girl.” Adding insult to injury, according to an article in Bitch Magazine, there were numerous comparisons to Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell, with some declaring her the "new Naomi Campbell," despite the fact there was little physical resemblance between them—save the color of their skin. Banks' point-of-view painted the media and industry as the villains, saying "the press had cast Naomi and [me] as rivals before we ever met each other.” Even the petulant Campbell, who has had a history of being prone to anger, took responsibility for her past animosity, ending the show by telling Banks: “However I’ve affected you or you’ve felt that I’ve affected you, I take my responsibility. I must say I’m very proud of you. You’ve been a powerful black woman.... Please continue.”
Eddie Bauer Racial Profiling
Year: 1997
Let's say you were feeling fresh to death in some new Eddie Bauer gear, but maybe there's that one other joint you wanted to pick up, so you went back to the store wearing the shirt you'd bought the day before. Then, let's say that a security guard thought you stole the shirt, detained you and your friends, and made you go home shirtless. That actually happened to Alonzo Jackson and some buddies. He filed suit against Eddie Bauer, claiming he'd been racially profiled, and the company settled for a cool $850,000. Hopefully he got his shirt back too.
Alek Wek Is Used As Espresso In Coffee Calender
Year: 1997
Alec Wek, a South Sudanese British supermodel, was featured in a calender for Lavazza coffee that she later said had blatantly racist undertones. In her 2007 book "Alek: From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel" she describes the images, in which she is sitting in a giant coffee cup as a stand-in for actual espresso.
"I can't help but compare them to all the images of black people that have been used in marketing over the decades. There was the big-lipped jungle-dweller on the blackamoor ceramic mugs sold in the Forties; the golliwog badges given away with jam; Little Black Sambo, who decorated the walls of an American restaurant chain in the 1960s; and Uncle Ben, whose apparently benign image still sells rice," she said.
The Lonsdale Youth
Year: 1998
Lonsdale, a British boxing equipment maker turned clothing brand, took an unfortunate L in the late '90s when clever young neo-Nazis in Europe realized that they could represent their lifestyle by wearing Lonsdale logo tees with a jacket, so that the letters NSDA were showing (an abbreviation for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the German name for the Nazi party). The practice allowed neo-Nazis to skirt laws forbidding people from wearing clothing or jewelry that promoted Nazi views. The practice spread across Europe, and the name "Lonsdale Youth" became popularized as a moniker. The brand fought back with a variety of press and marketing initiatives promoting multiculturalism, but by then the practice had become too widespread.
Japan's Ganguro Girls
Year: 1999
Japan's like a one-stop shop for oddball subculture, and Ganguro delivers. Popular in the late '90s, this trend saw women tanning obsessively and going so far as to apply foundation intended for dark-skinned women on top of that. The name Ganguro literally translates to "black face" or "charbroiled face" and while origins of the trend remain a mystery, some theorize that it actually originated from Japanese girls fanning out over their favorite African-American actresses and singers. The trend died down after a few years and many of the tanning salons—one of them named Blacky—that sprung up in Tokyo to service the needs of the Ganguro were shut down soon after.
Elite Modeling Management Racial Slurs Caught On Tape
Year: 1999
In a bizarre twist of fate, top executives at Elite Model Management, which then counted Naomi Campbell amongst its biggest assets, were caught on film using racial slurs and talking about how Africa would be a much better place if it were full of white people. In one instance, an executive said Milan would never accept "a black or Oriental" model working the runway. The offending tape was aired by the BBC and marred Elite's reputation.
Abercrombie & Fitch "Two Wongs Make It White" Shirt
Year: 2002
Abercrombie & Fitch has a history of releasing shirts with questionable slogans, and this one tops out as the most racially insensitive of all. The Chinese laundry caricature is an old-school racist trope, and the schoolyard nursery rhyme doesn't help much. Plus, it's Abercrombie & Fitch. Ew.
The Harajuku Girls
Year: 2004
Gwen Stefani has cemented her place in the pop star canon, but the Harajuku Girls thing was enough to make even the most insensitive person squirm a little bit. A beautiful white celebrity being tailed by a gaggle of nameless Asian women who dance at her request? Stefani claimed she was paying homage to the stylish girls and women of the Harajuku district in Tokyo, but the fact that the Harajuku Girls were "forbidden" from speaking in public sorta said it all.
Details "Gay or Asian"
Year: 2004
Details' Anthropology back-page series tackled tough issues, like "Gay or Jesus?" and "Gay or British?", but its "Gay or Asian?" edition drew intense ire. The Asian-American community rallied hard against lines like "whether you're into shrimp balls or shaved balls, entering the dragon requires imperial taste" and "perfect for waxing on and waxing off, plucking a koto, or gripping the Kendo stick." Making Details' fail even worse was the fact that it lumped all of Asian culture into one big group. After a protest and a petition with thousands of signatures, a full-page apology was printed in a subsequent issue of the magazine.
LeBron James Vogue Cover
Year: 2008
Sure, LeBron's a magnet for controversy, and he even acknowledged as much when asked about his appearance on the cover of Vogue. A beastly and intense King James appears next to the ethereal Gisele Bundchen in an image that ruffled feathers for playing into a variety of stereotypical depictions of black manhood. Some saw King Kong in the photo, some saw a generalized depiction of a dangerous black male and an angelic white woman. Whatever the case may be, there is something troubling about the fact that they styled LeBron like he was on the cover of a basketball magazine instead of a fashion tome.
Protest Calls for Sao Paolo Fashion Week Race Quota
Year: 2009
Over half of Brazil's population is black. Yet barely any black models grace the catwalk at Sao Paolo Fashion Week, year after year. The issue isn't necessarily just Sao Paolo's—fashion week catwalks the world over suffer from a lack of diversity— but in a country where there are mind-blowing levels of gorgeous dark-skinned women standing around at the beach all day, the lack of representation is even more stark. In 2008, after a tally found that only 28 out of 1,128 models used were nonwhite, a voluntary quota was introduced by fashion week organizers stipulating that at least 10 percent of the models used should be of Afro-Brazilian background. Still little has changed, and attempts to get the rule changed to a mandatory quota have been unsuccessful.
Harper's Bazaar Naomi Campbell Baboon Jumprope
Year: 2009
Take a stunning model, a well-known photographer, and some exotic wildlife and mix it all together and you get this hilariously bad editorial shoot for the September '09 issue of Harper's Bazaar. Simply hiring the fashion world's most famous black model and having her frolic in vaguely African settings wasn't "revolutionary" enough. So they went and blew all good taste out of the water by featuring Naomi Campbell playing jumprope with baboons. It almost seemed like the creative team sat around brainstorming the most offensive image they could think of to push the whole thing over the top. If so, mission accomplished.
Karl Lagerfeld Puts Claudia Schiffer In Yellow And Black Face
Year: 2010
Karl, Karl, Karl. We've already established that your age-addled brain processes reality a bit differently. And hey, racism doesn't exist in fashion, right? So it is totally cool to photograph one of the world's greatest supermodels in both Yellowface and Blackface! You have to wonder if this was just a calculated move to create controversy and buzz, but nonetheless, the photos lack in any sort of creative spark. Claudia in a short black bob and a vaguely Asian dress, Claudia in a big Afro and sequined get-up. At least he didn't style her as a geisha or a slave.
Baker Skateboards "Gooks of Hazzard" T-Shirt
Year: 2010
Baker's got a reputation for provoking people by glorifying the sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll side of skating, but this shirt went too far down the side road of being wildly racist. Nevermind that it featured two major Asian-American skateboarders on it, which begs the question if they approved the design, the use of the word "gooks" was enough to set off a firestorm that reached national media. The shirt was pulled from shelves soon after.
Guerlain Makes Racist Comments on TV
Year: 2010
Jean-Paul Guerlain, one of the world's most well-known parfumiers, was found guilty after a trial that took him to task for making racist comments on French television in 2010. He claimed that he worked "harder than a nigger" to make his perfumes, and went on to say that "niggers have never worked as hard as he works to make his perfumes." The remarks led to protests at Guerlain stores across France. After the verdict was handed down, Guerlain's only defense was to say that he comes from a generation in France where such expressions were common.
Nivea "Re-Civilize Yourself" Ad Campaign
Year: 2011
Nivea's "Look Like You Give A Damn" ad campaign was all about getting guys to clean up their act, but it was the brand itself that had to clean up a mess after they released an ill-conceived ad featuring a "clean-cut" black man holding an image of his own head with an Afro along with a caption that read "Re-Civilize Yourself." Did the company not realize that they were playing with the tired old stereotype of black men as uncivilized brutes? After the immediate and inevitable backlash, Nivea quickly pulled the ad and apologized for being insensitive.
Rihanna VS Jackie Magazine
Year: 2011
When the Dutch fashion magazine Jackie ran a feature on how to emulate Rihanna, it went as many kinds of types of wrong as you can possibly imagine—only worse. The accompanying text claimed that RiRi had a "ghetto ass and a golden throat," called her the "ultimate niggabitch," and even threw in a weird comment about her being Jamaican when she's actually from Barbados. The magazine's editor tried to play it off as a joke, but Rihanna wasn't having it. The editor resigned soon after.
Italian Vogue's "Slave Earrings"
Year: 2011
One of Italian Vogue's most disgraceful moments came when it ran a piece on hoop earrings that drew a comparison to the jewelry that early African slaves in the Americas brought with them from their homelands. The editors went as far as titling the article "Slave Earrings"—exhibiting a total lack of common sense, at best.
Harmony Korine Makes A Crazy Short Film For Proenza Schouler
John Galliano's Racist Rant
Year: 2011
Normally, when a guy who looks like a drunken pirate starts hurling racial slurs at you, it's the kind of thing you brush off. Until you look closer and realize that not only is it not a pirate, it's John Galliano. That's when you start recording video with your phone. When Galliano went on a rant about how much he loves Hitler and hates Jews in a Paris bistro late one night, it cost him his post at Dior and whatever little bit of dignity he had left.
Bond No. 9 Racial Profiling Lawsuit
Year: 2012
Ensuring your shop is merchandised well and maintained properly is just good business. Using coded language about double-checking your store's light fixtures as an excuse to follow around black customers is plain old racist. A federal lawsuit alleges that the owner of the popular Bond No. 9 perfume company would tell employees "We need the lightbulbs changed" whenever black shoppers stopped in, a message intended to discreetly inform the employees that it was time to be on high alert. As if that wasn't enough, the suit also claims that the owner kept a dark-skinned employee from serving white customers.
America's Next Top Model's Pocahontas Episode
Year: 2012
No one's looking to America's Next Top Model to break down cultural barriers, but the inclusion of a Native American contestant on Season 18 of the long-running (shit)show was a refreshing surprise. Too bad the show's producers had to go and completely firebomb any goodwill they'd built up by having the contestant dress up as Pocahontas in the very first episode. The premise was a competition called "Culture Clash" where each model had to represent a notable cultural figure. Apparently the ten minutes it would have taken to Google an iconic Native American female—besides the 12-year-old known for "marrying" a much older white settler and having her story sanitized for the sake of a Disney film—was too much to ask.
Bayo Philippines Race Mixing Ads
Year: 2012
This rather obscure instance features Bayo, a popular fashion retail brand of womenswear in the Philippines, and their "What's Your Mix?" ad campaign. It featured five models of mixed Filipino and European descent and seemed to equate race mixing with mixing and matching items in your wardrobe. While the goal of the campaign may have been noble, if a bit misguided, it left many outraged because of long-standing issues in Filipino culture around the premium placed on lighter skin and decidedly more European features. Bayo soon pulled the ads.
French Elle Says The Obama Family Created Black Classiness
Year: 2012
French Elle screwed up big time when they ran a story on what they perceived to be a new era in black style. All's fair in calling trends out, but this piece made the claim that the election of the Obama family in the US represented the first time that African-Americans were given an example on how to dress with class and poise. Before the Obamas—according to the article—blacks were only given "streetwear codes" rather than something chic to be inspired by. Editors declined to comment on the scandal, but we're still shaking our heads and asking what the Elle?