Diversity in Modeling - Wilhelmina

Inspired by Models.com series Diversity Rules. Wilhelmina represents 82 women.

“For many seasons the activist in me tried to figure out what to do about the problem at hand regarding the lack of racial diversity on the runways, in editorials and fashion advertising.
I have addressed the industry by having town hall meetings, gaining international media support, even naming those who lack the sense of responsibility of incorporating models of color. And after being given the CFDA’s Founders Award in June 2014 for upfront confrontation and determination to change how things are done and seen, still we lag at where we should be as an industry.

Surely there has been some improvement.

Where there is clear improvement over the years…are the model agencies. They have improved their inclusion of the model of color and continue to seek those beauties.

So I decided, instead of looking at what and where it isn’t happening (for now), to show where it continues to grow. There are agencies with far more ethnic models than others, but there are many still open to growth.

I decided to reflect what I saw here with the support of Models.com and the model agencies.

We are continuing our series with Next NY.

It was truly my pleasure and pride, to see and meet the models that I selected to represent their agencies and to link the others the agency represented as well.

No doubt, it’s a beautiful movement.”

– Bethann Hardison

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