Keija Minor sits down with the number one champion of the black fashion model.
By Keija Minor
It’s impossible to quantify the contribution Bethann Hardison has made to the fashion industry. With her own model and management agency she promoted diversity while never sacrificing quality, cultivating stars like Tyson Beckford and Naomi Campbell. For her discerning eye and “tell it like it is” attitude, every industry giant, from Calvin Klein to Vogue, has relied on her at one time or another. But when Hardison closed the model representation portion of her agency at the end of 1996 to focus on select projects such as managing Beckford, few noticed that no one picked up the torch to fight for black models—until they had all but disappeared from the runway and magazines. Hardison is once again at the forefront of this issue, speaking out on the lack of diversity within the industry. KM: Within the last year, you’ve held several open discussions, or “town hall meetings,” as I’ve heard them called, that have been credited with jump-starting the growing conversation about the shortage of black models both in magazines and on the runways.
BH: I wanted to bring together a cross section of people in our industry—stylists, editors, writers, fashion models, a few model managers—to discuss the matter and see if we could do something about it.
KM: What reaction did you get from people? Did anything surprise you?
BH: The first discussion was free and held in a 70-seat room, but the second one was a 200-seater, and we had to charge like $10 or something to support the library where it was held. Both were at maximum capacity with people sitting and standing in the aisles—that surprised me. I’m not really surprised but always grateful for the media coverage, especially having the The New York Times, Washington Post, and Women’s Wear Daily cover us to the extent that they have.
KM: Have you seen any sort of return of the black fashion model or change in the industry?
BH: You can get a hiccup, but real change takes time. What’s most important to me is opening up the dialogue, raising consciousness, and then you start to see a response on the runway. Michael Kors usually uses two or three black models, but he used five at one of his recent shows, and Ralph [Lauren], who may have two, featured a few [in the show for his fall collection]. Menswear designer Thom Browne, whose show is all about all-American white skinny boys, used a black guy in his show. You don’t have to point fingers at people; instead you do it in a very organic way, just by talking about the issue. You make everyone responsible, and little by little there’s some sort of change—like Italian Vogue dedicating its July issue to the black image and only using black models. And I’ve been interviewed by American Vogue, which I thought would boo-hoo the whole thing, but now [Editor in Chief Anna Wintour] is quietly addressing it, which is more elegant and more her style. She recently ran a story on racism in the fashion industry.
KM: When was the peak for black models?
BH: The mid-1980s to the early ’90s was the peak for diversity and for models in general because they were editorialized in magazines like Vogue, Elle, and Glamour. They had personalities; they weren’t just runway girls. By the mid-’90s, there was a change in how designers presented their clothes to the industry. Designers like Miuccia Prada led us down this road of casting nondescript fashion models, who all look alike and have the same body alignment and structure and are just racks to hang clothes on. Around that same time, more model managers started scouting in Eastern Europe.
In addition, I do accept the fact that someone like me was no longer in the industry, someone with a discerning eye who was also on the watch for diverse talent. I always looked for a great type—no matter what the ethnicity—and I would push and introduce that image in the industry. It takes a renegade to create a market when there hasn’t necessarily been one, especially in an industry where it’s not uncommon to be told by a casting director, “Don’t send any blacks, ethnics, or anything like that.” In any other industry, can you imagine someone saying that?
When I started my agency I had a really great girl, Mariama, whose father was from Niger and mother was French. She had been shot for Vogue, was a favorite of famed photographer Irving Penn, and I was able to push for her because she had the experience. And then I picked up another great girl and another, and that made it easier when a Calvin Klein would call me and say, “Let’s find a great black girl,” and I would question how many white girls he was using and make him feel self-conscious about asking for only one black girl.
KM: The last time we spoke you were developing several projects. What else are you working on?
BH: My top priority right now is my documentary. I have taped some material and have the proposal together and am ready to raise the initial cash to start making the film. The idea came to be about seven years ago and the initial purpose was simple: to celebrate black fashion models and the contribution they’ve made to the industry. Now the documentary talks about the lack of diversity more than I would have before. I would have addressed it, because racism in our industry is part of our journey, but when I first decided to do the documentary, I didn’t realize that the black fashion model had become almost extinct. Now the purpose of the documentary dovetails with the town meetings. U
To find out when and where Hardison’s next open forum to discuss the lack of diversity in the fashion industry will be held, log on to: showontheroad.blogspot.com.
Trackback(0)
|
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
R. Block's Spot
