The 36 size standard has a hard life on the catwalks

Diversity, inclusiveness: for three years, fashion and luxury brands have only had these words on their lips. It is enough to flip through the pages of magazines or look at billboards on the street to realize that an advertising campaign that combines, for example, three white, thin and blonde women is no longer relevant. And yet, when we look at the latest fashion weeks in September and October 2022, held in New York, London, Milan and Paris, the results are mixed: if ethnic diversity is indeed present, extreme thinness remains the norm for most. Parades.

“Over the past two or three years, there have been tremendous advances in skin color.”Pierre Rouget, president of PR Consulting, a communications agency, appreciates. Each season we look at a wider panel of nationalities, with a large number of new models coming from South Sudan, India or Sri Lanka.Confirms Margaux Warin, fashion and trends manager at Tagwalk, a search engine that aggregates all brands’ runway shows. “Agencies are mushrooming in Africa right now because there is a real demand for African beauties from brands”says Natalie Cross-Coyton, director of modeling agency Women.

Model search is also very active in India and Korea, he says. This new standard has similarly established itself in advertising. “Five years ago it was still predominantly white. Today the trend has changed.Andre Mazzal, director of strategic planning at advertising agency BETC luxe Paris, analyzes. “Even diamond brands that are historically quite associated with white culture are embracing black muses, like Tiffany with Beyoncé. »

Interchangeable bodies

This development is related to several factors. It primarily responds to commercial reality: Western fashion brands are trying to strengthen their influence in Asia, develop new markets in Africa or India. To attract a global clientele, they are no longer satisfied with white models of their products. At the same time, social movements have accelerated this process: after the death of George Floyd in June 2020 and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, many fashion brands have been attacked on social networks and asked to express a political opinion.

In the process, some of them (Prada, Gucci, Adidas, Burberry, etc.) have established internal “diversity and inclusion managers”, guarantees against all kinds of discrimination, but are especially vigilant about issues of racial discrimination. . most sensitive. “Sometimes we get the impression that diversity of skin has erased other questions”considers Andre Mazal.