New York Fashion Week Had Its Most Diverse Season Yet
Although the Spring 2019 collections may still be underway at Paris Fashion Week, The Fashion Spot just released its official diversity report from New York Fashion Week's Spring 2019 shows-and there's some noteworthy progress to highlight.
In terms of race, size, age, and gender, this season was the most diverse yet for the New York shows. There were obvious standouts during the week, like Pyer Moss' show that celebrated African American culture while casting all black models and Rihanna's Savage x Fenty show that included an incredibly inclusive casting with women of all sizes and races in lingerie (along with two pregnant models). And designers like Chromat, Christian Siriano, and Prabal Gurung once again led the way with some of the most diverse shows of the week.
THE RUNWAYS FEATURED 44.8% MODELS OF COLOR
The Fashion Spot found that nearly a quarter of all shows included over 50% models of color in their casting. As a whole, the runways featured 44.8% models of color-which is up from 37.3% last season.
Designer who cast the most racially inclusive shows this season include Pyer Moss (100 percent models of color), Claudia Li (100 percent models of color), Chromat (91.7 percent models of color), LaQuan Smith (76.5 percent models of color), Gypsy Sport (76 percent models of color), Prabal Gurung (75.6 percent models of color), Savage x Fenty (71.7 percent models of color), and Christian Cowan (71.4 percent models of color).
THE AMOUNT OF PLUS-SIZE MODELS CAST NEARLY DOUBLED
This season also saw an improvement in terms of size inclusivity (though still not nearly enough). A total of 49 plus-size models walked in 12 different shows, compared to last season's 27 in 8 shows.
Once again, Chromat led the way with the most plus-size models by casting 13 plus-size women in its Spring 2019 show. The brand also made a powerful statement by sending models of all sizes down the runway wearing t-shirts that read 'Sample Size.' Other standouts in plus casting this season included Christian Siriano (who has always been a champion for size inclusivity on the runway) and Savage x Fenty.
IT WAS THE MOST AGE-DIVERSE SEASON
Despite the fact that this season included more models over the age of 50 than ever before, it's still the category with the least representation-by a drastic amount. Out of 76 major shows, New York only had 12 over-50 castings for the entire Spring 2019 season, which accounts for not even 1 percent.
Sies Marjan, Chromat, Tome, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Zero + Maria Cornejo each cast two over-50 models, while Calvin Klein and Collina Strada each had one. Though the number was up from last season (which only included nine over-50 castings), there's still quite some work to do in terms of age inclusivity.
GENDER REPRESENTATION INCREASED, ALONG WITH DRAG PERFORMERS
This season also saw an improvement in gender inclusivity. Transgender women and non-binary models made a total of 53 runway appearances at 20 different shows, a notable increase from last season's 33 castings (and the Spring 2018 season's 31 castings).
Another interesting thing to note from New York's Spring 2019 season was the increased casting of drag queens. Opening Ceremony, Gypsy Sport, and The Blonds all cast a total of 25 drag performers. Taking that notion a step further, Opening Ceremony's show was formatted entirely as a drag show hosted by RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Sasha Velour. The runway was cast with all LGBTQIA+ models, 21 of whom were drag queens.
Read the full New York Fashion Week Spring 2019 diversity report at TheFashionSpot.com.
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