There does need to be more black models. and aisian, and Puerto Rican, and Irish etc. But calling existing models 'white dogs' is really unnecessary - it isn't their fault they get cast. Besides self hatred is really pathetic.

Posted by: Helen | February 19, 2008 2:03 PM

Prejudice and racism is bad no matter who it is aimed at. I find Ms Hamnett's comments offensive and very nasty. Substitute black for white and you would have people outraged at what she said. Why is ok to say hateful things about any race?

Posted by: Louise | February 19, 2008 2:16 PM

Well what an intelligent individual she has shown herself to be! Somehow I don't think that this kind of attack is going to help anyone.

But talking of discrimination, I, personally, am sick to death of the fact that the whole fashion industry overlooks the fact that it is ok to discriminate against height. There's alot more black models than shorter ones! Oh, but I forgot it's acceptable to discriminate against peoples height it seems.

Posted by: Laura | February 19, 2008 3:20 PM

There absolutely needs to be more diversity in fashion, but that comment was completely unnecessary. This has been a fairly hot topic lately, which hopefully means more industry leaders and designers will take notice and make the necessary changes.

Posted by: Julia | February 19, 2008 4:10 PM

The fashion industry is all about discrimintation, the discrimate about age, height, size, looks, colour.
Everything.
And I highly doubt that that will ever change.
Ms Hamnett's comments were highly offensive and rascist and i don't see why she should be aloud to get away with them, she is clearly an ignorant woman!

Posted by: Issy | February 19, 2008 4:58 PM

Note to self: Don't buy anything designed by that bigot.

It's interesting that you say there were few black models on the New York runway. I saw more. NY Mag reported there being more as well.

Posted by: Jael | February 19, 2008 7:25 PM

Lack of models of color in UK and USA is mostly due to the doings of countries of color such as India which have started replacing local models with white European models...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/26/AR2008012601057.html?hpid=moreheadlines

If countries of color such as India have some self respect, others will respect models of color who come from these countries! It is interesting that everyone blames the whites, but non-whites such as Indians perpetuate the supremacy of white skin and thus perpetuate racism world over.

Posted by: Raj | February 19, 2008 9:20 PM

Katherine Hamnett's comment may have been rude but it shows that she's observant and not afraid to speak up when something is wrong even though doing so could harm her and her business. Those are hardly characteristics of an ignorant person, Issy. I'm disappointed once again in Catwalk Queen and find there's no point in reading a blog which only goes on and on about how wonderful all designers are when some of the stuff they design are clearly ridiculous and some of the decisions they take are discriminatory and negative. If you're not insinuating that skinny girls should be force-fed, then you're implying that it's ok for fashion shows to use mostly white girls. Shame on you, Catwalk Queen.

Posted by: lape | February 20, 2008 7:21 AM

Give me a break Lape.
What Ms Hamnett said is offensive, end of story. There are so many other ways she could have made her point without resorting to childish name calling. All she has managed to do is get people's backs up.
Making bigoted comments about any race is WRONG.
Besides there are beautiful women of all races, including caucasian women, and I don't find any race has more or less of their share of beauties.

Posted by: Louise | February 20, 2008 9:03 AM

Iape,

I appreciate your comments, however I'm not sure if you've actually read the rest of the post correctly. My issue isn't with Katharine Hamnett's comments, although they were unnecessary, but with the fashion industry not properly representing women, of all races.

To say that Catwalk Queen "insinuates that skinny girls should be force-fed" and that "it's ok for fashion shows to use mostly white girls" is completely untrue and in direct opposition to what was written. I'm not sure where this idea has developed from, but I think you have misunderstood what CQ stands for.

The seriousness my reply isn't the norm, but reflects how seriously we, at Catwalk Queen, take this accusation.

Kim
Editor,
Catwalk Queen

Posted by: Kim | February 20, 2008 11:01 AM

I think the comment was rude and offensive and - as a black woman - I thought it slightly patronising because I don't see her casting that many black models either. Obviously, her comments were made to get a reaction from the press...and it did. The truth is the UK fashion industry isn't ready for "black". She's right about body shape because we generally have a more athletic build and a more muscle than fat (scientific fact)and the myelin pigment means we don't age as fast. We also have very strong features and defined personal style which nobody else can really pull off. I think black beauty is misunderstood within the industry and fashion houses and major companies are afraid of using black models for campaigns for fear of "alienating" their clientelle, who are generally upper middle class..and lets be honest...white. Therefore, it's commercially viable for them to continue to represent the clientelle. The issue of using black models seems to be a bigger problem over here in the UK. Most of our famous black models i.e. Alek Wek, Naomi etc have had to move on to the States to get American representation because they knew they would get work over there. Even Tyra started in Paris - so why is the UK market slow to pick up on this? Who's going to take over from Naomi when she decides to retire?

Posted by: Ngwe | February 20, 2008 11:03 AM

This story really fucked me off. I know there is a lack of multi racial models but the fact is is a designer prefers white models than whats the problem. The woman who commented 'Black women are generally more beautiful and have better figures' is just as bad in saying that. White models features show alot more on the catwalk and the colours generally match all skin tones.. as for figure the fashion world uses models like clothes horses so figures are not needed in such a sense. That writer is an idiot.

Posted by: Hayley Clough | February 21, 2008 12:32 AM

i'm glad she said it,and i'm glad she said it the way she did.Alot of white people are blinkered to the fact that all races possess beautiful women,and Ms Hamnett basically had to slap those blinkers off by being offensive...she was just saying to the fashion industry "WAKE UP,OPEN YOUR EYES!!!" Its like Chris Rock offending people by saying in one of his live shows.."i love black people,love them...but i hate niggers" I as a black man, agree with him totally.

Posted by: jay jay | March 19, 2008 8:38 PM

Well there is much more racism at London Fashion week, then anyone could think of...it is not only about models, but also how they select people they employ and the way they treat non while employees...
...have seen it myself...

Posted by: Liquid Human | March 15, 2010 7:35 PM