She is one of fashion’s most recognised faces, however Naomi Campbell still experiences racial discrimination in the industry and says that so much more still needs to be done about it.
As the first British black model to appear on the cover of British Vogue, Campbell has created a path for other black models and defied the stereotypes of models on magazine covers.
She is now one of the world’s most in-demand supermodels and her extraordinary success has led to her £40 million fortune.
Despite her popularity she still receives discrimination in the fashion industry because of the colour of her skin. She told the Mirror about how she recently did a campaign but an Asian country refused to take the advert.
‘It shocks me but it keeps my drive going,’ Campbell said. ‘It keeps things in perspective that the work is never done. That’s why I don’t give up.’
In March this year The Fashion Spot published its seasonal diversity report, which measures diversity of race, gender and size on the Fashion Week catwalks. The report documented an improvement in diversity as in New York, 45.8 per cent of models were non-white. Paris came in second, with 39 per cent models of colour, London in third and Milan in fourth, with 31.8 per cent.
Perhaps this improvement is thanks to Campbell, who six years ago launched a campaign called The Diversity Coalition which aimed to increase black and ethnic minority faces on the catwalk. Campbell, along with late David Bowie’s model wife Iman and agent Bethann Hardison, wrote an open letter to the governing bodies of the fashion industries in New York, London, Paris and Milan.
The letter highlighted that at New York Fashion Week only 6 per cent of the models were black and 9 per cent were Asian and that at the time fewer black models were used than in the 1970s.
Although thankfully now the numbers have increased, Campbell is not stopping there and notes that there have been improvements but more needs to be done.
When speaking to Reuters about diversity Campbell said: ‘It’s improved absolutely, I can’t say it hasn’t. I do think there’s always room for improvement…There’s still some ways to go.’
The next thing that Campbell believes needs to be targeted is the pay gap of models. ‘What’s next to come is that these models of diversity get the same pay cheque. It has to happen,’ she said to the Mirror. She then referred to her own career where when she was younger she did not got the same pay as white models, however she said that it should no longer be that way.
Now Campbell actively challenges the lack of diversity in fashion and sometimes is even forced to decline work. The model was asked to do a catwalk at Paris Fashion Week but had to turn it down as it was not diverse enough.
Campbell is constantly doing something to champion diversity in the fashion industry and has worked with African designers as well as co-produced April’s Arise Fashion Week in Lagos, Nigeria.
The model has also done a lot of charity work throughout her career, and as a result on Monday The British Fashion Council said Campbell would receive the Fashion Icon Award at December’s Fashion Awards in recognition of her industry contribution and charity work.
It is great to see that things are slowly improving for women of colour in the fashion industry. However as Campbell points out, there is still plenty more to be done.
