tackling the lack of diversity in the fashion industry

2017 is still fresh upon us, but it still seems as the fashion industry hasn't caught up with battling all sorts of underlying issues like; racism, lack of diversity, ethical problems as well as other handful of conversations that are consistently swept under the carpet. It'll be a lie if I said that fashion isn't picking up the paste in terms of lack of representation within females; especially women of colour. However, the lack of representation is still very much real towards race, gender and size and it's still very obvious that the same stereotypical features of a model is a common use for popular brands, and is often the first choice to represent brands or a brands motive. 
When Jasmine Tookees, modeled the "fantasy bra" for Victoria's Secret fashion show last year, it had only the marked the third time in the show's 21-year run that a woman of colour was chosen to make the brand's ultimate fashion statement. Though quite shocking, I'm not surprised in the slightest. 

“In a time where black people too often are in the media for being underrepresented at important events such as the Oscars, or make headlines for being targeted by the police, I felt it was time to do something positive and inspiring about my race,” 
Debbeh Howard 

The "Black mirror" series captures Liberian-born, L.A based model Debbeh Howard recreating fashion's most iconic editorials. Replacing popular model's like Kendall Jenner, Candice Swanepoel and Gigi Hadid; aiming to embrace as well as "show the world what diversity is is capable off". Emulating her race quite positively, which is often juxtaposed in the media today. 
The first thing I thought of when I first discovered these threads of photographs was how beautiful Debbeh was, yet felt quite dishearten when I read that she has had negative experiences in terms of modeling, one being that she had been turned down by various companies because they already had a black model. What makes this issue sad personally for me is that they completely ignored her beauty and talent because they already had someone that was black (??) . It almost seems ridiculous comparing how many companies take on many models who have the same features, which is quite repetitive which has made it the "norm" for companies to do. I wish bigger brands where more on board with embracing diversity, especially seeing as the world is continuously evolving and being so much more diverse.

 Yet, It's quite empowering seeing a black woman rise against this issue, and taking matters into her own hands by showing everyone that black models can be considered for advertisements too, I hope to see more recognition of Debbeh in the future, as I believe she's really given insight to diversity within the fashion industry. Sometimes the break of the generic stereotype is good, and i wish more people were open to it. 

- Chrissy x