Once Again, CFDA Issues Health & Diversity Reminder
Photo: Getty Images
A week before the start of New York Fashion Week, Diane von Furstenberg, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, posted a letter to the CFDA website, as she has done in previous seasons, urging designers to think about the health of the models as well as focus on a diverse cast of models for the runway show.
In her letter, von Furstenberg says, “Let’s remember that beauty is health and health is beauty…it is also important to remember that beauty is diversity and as an industry, we stand by these two principles.” The CFDA has had guidelines in place since 2007 to promote the well-being of models, including things like “educate the industry to identify the early warning signs of an eating disorder,” “supply healthy meals, snacks, and water backstage,” and “support the well-being of younger individuals by not hiring models under the age of sixteen for runway shows.” She specifically emphasized the last guideline, adding: “we strongly believe that models under the age of 16 do not belong on the runway,” and pointed out that if designers choose to work with younger models, they need to adhere to the state’s labor laws (she even provided a link should anyone feign ignorance about them).
In recent years, von Furstenberg and the CFDA have been very vocal about the need for diversity in the runway, even honoring former model and agency owner Bethann Hardison at last year’s CFDA awards for her “Diversity Coalition.” Hardison’s guidelines on racial diversity include “ask model agencies to include and send models of color when casting,” and also “request models of color every season and not be limited to the Spring/Summer collections and hesitate when it comes to Fall/Winter collections.”
Photo: Imax Tree
The CFDA efforts are laudable, but we will have to wait until the end of the season to see if designers, agencies, and casting directors pay attention. And based on past seasons, we’d bet money they won’t. During the Spring 2015 shows last season, New York had the highest number of models of color on the runway, but it still amounted to less than 20%. At least von Furstenberg leads by example: her runway last season was almost evenly split between Caucasian and models of color.
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