Diversity On The Runway

After the close of the last New York Fashion Week in September 2016, Anna Wintour was un-impressed with the lack of stepping out of the box from designers, although she was happy with the diversity she saw on the runway. Being that Wintour is the fashion queen, it is only fitting that the designers take what she loved last time and run with it, which is what they did.

During the Autumn/ Winter 17-18 New York Fashion Week shows one thing that the runway didn’t lack was diversity. There were models of all colors, hair of all textures, bodies of all sizes, and even religions of all types. There were shows that would have a model with an Afro followed by a model of Latina decent.

Diversity was a theme throughout the week, specifically diversity in women and how it should be celebrated. Naeem Khan was the most successful in making his message to women clear. After his tassel hanging cocktail attire and pantsuits walked the runway, Khan did the unexpected. He had a model walk the runway in goddess attire, a gold dress with a gold headpiece against her chocolate brown skin. As the model slowly walked, Maya Angelou’s poem, “Human Family” played with the repetition of, “We are more alike my friends than we are unalike,” playing 5-6 times during the final walk.

Curves also hit the runway as some designers decided to portray their collection on real-sized women. Some famous plus size models who hit the runway included Ashley Graham and Denise Bidot. Graham was the first plus size model to land on the cover of Sports Illustrated last year and this year she was the first plus size model to walk in a Michael Kors show ever— she rocked a black calf-length dress and a fur coat hanging on her shoulders. While a lot of shows tried to add at least one curvy girl in their runway casting, Chromat had a runway that consisted of 90% women with curves, which had the audience clapping for every look that walked the runway.

After years of models with the same exact look walking runways every show, the fashion industry is finally learning that diversity has a huge impact on the runways and how their collections reach the public.

- Asia Milia Ware