Does fashion discriminate?

Last Modified: 11 Oct 2007
By: Katie Brown

More4 News looks at the difficulties faced by black models in the fashion industry.

There are moves afoot to make the business face up to the underlying racism.

Dee Doocey, a Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the London Assembly, has summoned a meeting between the fashion industry and campaigners.

She used to run an international fashion business.

She said: "I think there is quite a lot of ignorance out there and people are not willing to experiment. The London fashion industry is renowned throughout the world for its creativity but when it comes to the way it is run, it is terribly conservative in its approach. I want modelling agencies to be much more progressive in their outlook and I want them to actively recruit from ethnic minorities."

Last year, the French cosmetic company L'Oreal was found guilty of racial discrimination because staff excluded Arab, Asian and African models.

Agencies find it difficult to find work for black and mixed race models.

Maya Schulz, managing director of Acclaim Models, said: "It is a lot harder for them to sell black models and a lot of people like to play it safe and stick to what they know. They think that is the best way forward and that is not always the case.

"If you look at the leading magazines, it is very rare to see a black model on the cover of one of the big glossies."

We contacted several leading model agencies but none would talk to us and would not even provide a written statement.