Is fashion’s push for diversity driven by media backlash and economic interests?
Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival featured models of different ages, ethnicities and sizes – proof, perhaps, that younger style cities might be quicker to adapt than more established fashion capitals
Diversity is fashion’s latest buzzword but is the shift real, or just tokenistic?
Yes, more models of colour have been spotted on the runways of Paris, Milan, London and New York, as well as in fashion magazines, but this is due largely to the backlash over modelling being dominated by white faces.
And let’s not pretend that a rise in Asian faces has anything to do with championing Asian beauty, and is not rooted in economic interests, with Asia increasingly key to the global fashion market.
Perhaps the most consistently diverse runways I have seen at any fashion week were at the recent Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (VAMFF), which made a statement with its commitment to models of varying size, age and ethnicity.
There was the 60-year-old Lou Kenny and Hanan Ibrahim, a 25-year-old Muslim who wore a hijab on the runway. American plus-size model and activist Ashley Graham was a guest star at the festival. There were larger models, older models and men and women who did not conform to mainstream standards. They were seen on the runways all week, and not just strategically placed in a few shows.
The reason for this, says Graeme Lewsey, chief executive of VAMFF, is that the festival’s runways are geared towards consumers – who can buy runway tickets – rather than buyers and editors.
“We’ve been doing this for 23 years and from day one, it’s been a see-now-buy-now model,” says Lewsey, a former fashion designer. “The VAMFF is for brands, retailers and consumers to connect.
“We see ourselves as a fashion mardi gras. It’s not about an elite few but inclusive.”
Am I surprised to see this in an Australian city? Most certainly. But Melbourne’s young, more isolated fashion scene might just be quicker to catch on than the established fashion capitals.
“Perhaps there’s this tyranny of distance here in Australia but we actually adopt things quite quickly,” Lewsey says. “We’re quick because we don’t want to be left behind.”
