Posted on 03/07/2016 12:10:10 PM PST by SkyPilot
Diversity campaigners Monday condemned the darling of Paris fashion week after he failed to cast a single model of colour in his two headline-grabbing shows.
Demna Gvasalia, who counts black music superstars Rihanna and Kanye West among his biggest fans, used only white models in shows for his own hip Vetements label and for Balenciaga Sunday, where he has just taken over as creative director.
The British-based Models for Diversity group slammed his choice as "appalling, unbelievable and bewildering".
Its founder Angel Sinclair told AFP that the omission was all the more "shocking after the great strides at New York fashion week" and in other Paris shows -- among the most diverse ever staged in the French capital.
"What was he thinking? I can't believe that Kanye (West) could have anything to do with him," she said.
Last month the rapper turned fashion designer -- a regular front row guest at previous Vetements shows -- threatened to poach Gvasalia, 34, from the Spanish label.
"I'm going to steal Demna from Balenciaga," he tweeted.
Sinclair, a former model, said given that the Georgian-born designer had built his reputation on edgy streetwear inspired by black fashion culture, not using black models was "gross".
"He is insulting all the black people who have been supporting him. He really needs to be educated," she said.
Gvasalia, 34, who fled his war-torn homeland as a child for Germany, has said that he gets his inspiration from riding the metro through one of the most ethnically mixed parts of Paris.
But photographs of previous Vetements shows seen by AFP show his label only ever used a non-white model once on the catwalk, an Asian model for the 2015 autumn winter collection.
Balenciaga apologised Monday for any offence the show might have caused...
(Excerpt) Read more at globalpost.com ...
I’m thinkin’ the “dance on top of the truck” lady in Houston, today, would be an appropriate diversity recruit for these folks.
Looks like she fell into someone’s laundry hamper and got all tangled up during the Christmas season.
an explosion in a tie factory
Harrison Bergerson.
I heard they just signed Annie Rexia
Reminds me of the outrage when Beyonce hired only black dancers for her superbowl show.
/s
Yikes! WTH is that?
Whoa! That’s way beyond plus size.
What you don’t see in the pic, is the extra support posts holding that balcony up.
The “diverse” models might have a great sense of entitlement and be exceptionally high maintenance.
My friend’s granddaughter has done print modeling for a few years for one of the top children’s fashion retailers. She’s 10 now. She’s their first choice because she’s easy to work with, and never has “attitude”.
My friend has told me stories about how some of the other kids behave on shoots, and they’re insufferable! They treat the adults and photographers the way Chelsea treated the SS. Many times they aren’t asked back for a second shoot.
"Equal Protection Under the Law" does not exist.
What we have is open racism in America today.
Whites are not allowed to have certain jobs, programs, promotions etc while the less qualified person who is a minority can have all that.
One black guy has a 5 bedroom house, 3 bathrooms and I asked how he could afford it and he went on to tell me that there are programs for blacks to get mortgages with a cheaper interest rate.
Yes I was fuming and let it be known.
Black privilege and why some whites hate themselves and don’t see this racism is beyond me.
We are in the strange situation of finding out that we are colonial subjects and that our masters have plans to keep us passive and subjugated or to liquidate us.
Very much so.
I had never heard of a program where blacks get a cheaper mortgage payment than whites before , until this black told me he got his.
That's a big part of 0's problem.
Today he looks in the mirror and sees the frickin' POTUS.
In another eleven month, when he looks in that same mirror, all he's going to see is a lame-azz hoodrat . And he knows that that's all he is EVER going to see looking back at him.
Do not think the “Get her a cheeseburger” crowd will chime in on that one!
That appears to be “dressy casual” for circus clowns.
Pretty women wearing ugly clothes.. yup must be high fashion.
Oh, My....does she blow herself up in the morning? Yikes.
I’ve seen bag ladies that dress better. Sheesh
Wow. That gal is huge.
Following the ruckus yes, she said it was because it is unhealthy.
I recently watched a Russian movie 1612. During an interview with the director they joke about how Americans must have a black for so many white actors. In their movie, they joke how they used a Tartar for the “diversity” part.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1612_%28film%29
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