Here's What Naomi Campbell Has to Say About Diversity in Fashion

It wasn’t so long ago that Naomi Campbell was one of the only models of color that got any work. A lot has changed since the supermodel’s ‘90s heyday — we celebrate diverse skin colors, body shapes, genders, ages, and abilities — but diversity remains an appreciated exception, not a norm. There are many fashion and beauty brands working to normalize diversity in the industry, but far more subscribe to the enduring standard: the thin, white, able-bodied, barely legal, cisgender woman.

Campbell is glad to see that the industry is changing. “I’m very optimistic about diversity because I know I’m never going to shut up about it until the girls get better,” she told the New York Times. “It’s getting better, I think. I think this is going to be a good season. It’s just a feeling. There’s no count yet. But I feel it’s going to be a good season. I think things have to evolve and I think that it’s different things for different folks.” We’ve yet to see any pioneering diversity on the runways this season, but we hope Campbell is right.

“At the end of the day, it’s good to have the foundation of knowing how to be a model,” said Campbell. “We’re hoping diversity will give the model a chance no matter what. But that comes once she’s booked.” With models as young as 16 trotting down runways, the expectation of experience and a sense of comfort in their bodies is a paradox. Campbell recognizes that the stakes are higher than ever, though. “We got to be closer to the designers [in the ‘80s]. It was a much more intimate relationship with the designers,” she said. “That’s what I think may have changed now, because it’s much bigger. It’s much more competitive.”

While we’re not there yet, we’re glad to see that an icon like Naomi Campbell is impressed with the progress the industry has made,