Picture this: You’re at London Fashion Week, attending the showing of one of England’s premiere designers. It’s one of the best media covered shows of the week and as the show goes on you notice someting: all the models are Asian – not a single white girl on the catwalk. No big deal. The models are gorgeous and look great in the clothes, but still you think “Hmm… I wonder what the designer is try to say. Is Asian ‘in’ right now?”

Now, flip the script. The good news is you won’t have to stretch your imagination this time. You see, the reverse scenario is reality: Tokyo Fashion Week. This isn’t the case all the collections, but it’s notable that those collections featuring Asian models had only Asian models. Segregation 2.0. It isn’t new, so I guess I should expected it. And yet I don’t.

Click photos for larger views:

The Dress & Co. by Hideaki Sakaguchi

Mint Designs

Tiny Dinosaur by Naomi Yamamoto

Fur Fur by Aya Furuhashi

****

Of twelve covers this year, Vogue Nippon (Tokyo edition) only featured an Asian model one time – on the November issue.

I saw this story starting to break yesterday and gave an audible sigh. Apparently people are upset about a beautiful fashion editorial spread, shot by Steven Klein and featuring model Lara Stone for the October edition of Vogue Paris. Why are they upset? You see, Miss Stone was photo’d wearing dark makeup – or as some or calling it “blackface.” I’d seen that spread in my favorite fashion forum and noticed that Lara Stone was painted brown. And, as a black person, I thought “interesting” – AND THAT’S IT. No offense, no outrage, no big deal. In fact I think the dark makeup up makes Lara look quite elegant in some of these.

Maybe it’s generational – I also don’t call myself and my loved ones nigger…

That fact is that the darkened shots are gorgeous and why should that be offensive?! True, maybe they could have cast a black model, but the spread is named LARA – it’s all about the model and her transformation from shot to shot.

Honestly folks, there are better things to bitch and moan about. Yes, racism still exists and that sucks. But this spread is not its revelation. Instead, the ludicrous reaction is more disheartening. Are we still so uptight and rigid about race? So much so that no matter the intention, certain things must always remain taboo. If so, the annoying tension will never ever go away. Enough already!

photos via @ Laetitia tFS

Is this Ebony Fashion Fair? Nope! It’s Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2010. The designer apparently tried to hog all the beautiful brown girls in Paris for his Spring 2010 collection this year, casting some of the most buzz-worthy black models in the business right now – including the very pregnant Jourdan Dunn (who is even more gorgeous with a bit of weight on her, BTW).

I have mixed feelings about the collection itself, which is dying to rehash Gaultier’s glory days (the ’90s) – almost stitch for stitch in some spots. I half expected Madge herself to pop up…

photos: wwd.com

It’s Japan Fashion Week, although one can scarcely tell except by the names of the designers. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but I still find it disturbing that even in Japan white models dominate the catwalk. While we can kvetch about the lack of black or otherwise “colored’ models in NYC, London, Milan, Paris.. in those cities non-whites are the minority. So as unsatisfying as it may be, it makes a bit more (non)sense. Yet even in Tokyo, they feel the need to import euro models.

I suppose I understand the business logic. That is, Japanese designers want to appeal to the broader fashion market that will view the shows in photos and video around the world. Still, I think it’s a shame.

Top three looks from Matohu, bottom three from Kamishima Chimami.

photos: jfw.jp

Some dope has taken a perfectly good design concept and ruined it with a racially insensitive name. Here’s a description from the Slanties Website:

slanties are based on ancient Inuit eyewear. Each pair of slanties is handcrafted. Our light, durable finish shows off the natural wood grain. slanties are engineered to be sturdy and reliable, and each pair is reinforced with a layer of fiberglass. If cared for correctly, your slanties will last for 800 years. Wear slanties on the beach as functional sunglasses. Wear Slanties to the club. Wear slanties to visit your grandparents, they’ll love them too. We hope that each pair will bring you great happiness.

It’s too bad, because I think these could have been a viable product. Maybe not at big as Ray Ban, but possibly big among the trendy set. But the makers lacked proper marketing insight. Good riddance.

Spotted at Racialicious