Posted on January 11, 2023

Raven Schexnayder went viral on social media after she shared a video of the hair nightmare she had as a model for Frederick Anderson. The 21-year-old documented how her coily textured hair was ignored by stylists who were instructed to give her a slicked-back ponytail. Ultimately, she walked down the runway with afro texture in the front and a silky hairpiece in the back that failed to blend.

"I don't think that only Black people should touch my head or anything. … (But) if you don't know how to do curly hair, you need to educate yourself, because I'm not the only Black person in the fashion industry," Schexnayder says.

She adds that the stylists did not have any products indicating that they were prepared to deal with Black hair. Hiring talent without people to accommodate them puts the onus on them to come prepared to do more labor than their job description — a shared experience between runway models and Hollywood actors highlighting that white beauty standards are the blueprint and everyone else is an "other."

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"That's not normal. You're not making white people do their hair before they come to the show," Schexnayder says.

High fashion is all about exclusivity, perhaps most evident at the seen-or-be-seen, invite-only fashion weeks in New York, Paris and more. But can an industry that's all about being exclusive find a way to be inclusive when it comes to diversity? The jury is still out.

Fashion's foundation on ideals of exclusivity and aspiration remains, but changing consumer desires have called people to question why. That why has allowed models like Iman, Naomi Campbell, Winnie Harlow, Ashley Graham and Madeline Stuart to change perceptions of what runway models could look like.

In 2022, having models of different races, sizes, abilities or age isn't necessarily revolutionary, but it hasn't become the standard for fashion weeks around the globe either.

Runway inclusivity is eons behind for models with disabilities

New York and London Fashion Week positioned themselves at the front of inclusivity with several shows featuring models with visible disabilities. The former city saw Open Style Lab's "Double Take" show, where models with disabilities made up the majority, showcasing the brand's adaptive clothing inspired by people with spinal muscular atrophy. Meanwhile, London hosted a panel in collaboration with the British Fashion Council and Valuable 500 to discuss disability inclusion, challenges and triumphs.

In New York, Studio 189, Guvanch, Johnathan Hayden, Edwing D’Angelo and Vogue World incorporated a variety of disabled talent, which was "surreal" for 28-year-old model Bri Scalesse , who appeared in three shows.

"They genuinely cared about true inclusivity and not a moment of just someone on their runway shocking people," she says.

But these shows are the exceptions, not the rule.

Many people in the industry aren't always thinking about models with disabilities when they cast under the guise of diversity, according to Scalesse.

"(The industry thinks) it's OK to not have a single person disabled person in your show. No one's gonna bat an eye. And that's really hard," she says.

Fashion's exclusivity is outdated. How can the industry embrace inclusivity's cutting edge?

Scalesse says she found her experience as a wheelchair user to be overall positive because her agency We Speak Models coordinated accessibility with the brands. Her agency sent her portfolio to a wide range of casting directors, regardless of whether a fashion house was looking for a model with disabilities. But Spring Studios, the hub of New York Fashion Week, didn't fully allow for a disabled person to independently use their accessible features without an attendant, Scalesse says.

Some feel the industry is actively shutting out the disabled community because of the perception that they "would ruin their look as a high-end brand," says model Roisin Clear. "But the whole idea of a look of a high-end brand is highly exclusive. … It's inherently ableist."

The fashion industry has yet to "see disability as a diverse characteristic that they want to be representative of," says Laura Winson, whose London-based talent agency Zebedee represents models with a variety of disabilities, visible differences and gender identities. It's difficult for those models to break through when nobody on the design team or publicity is considering them when implementing diversity.

Casting director Noah Shelley says for fashion week "it's been rare in my experience to be asked (by designers) for models with disabilities on the runway."

Whether the impetus to evolve will continue beyond what Scalesse calls "tokenism" is the industry's next hurdle.

"It has to be a long-term thing," Clear says.

Plus-size models of all body types need to be celebrated

Plus-size models have slowly cemented their place in the fashion industry with faces like Graham, Precious Lee, Iskra Lawrence and Tess Holliday. Seeing those "beautiful babes strutting their stuff" gave Nicole Denise Johansson the push to become a model — a dream she shelved for years because she "didn't see myself" represented.

Johansson, 37, says it gets "frustrating" when there are "so many missed opportunities" for inclusion.

"We're not seeing enough different sizes, enough different body shapes or abilities or cultures come through," she says.

Two common critiques — that there are not enough plus-size models and there needs to be more representation outside of hourglass figures — permeate the conversation.

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Gita Omri's mirror-image runway show at New York Fashion Week went viral for straight-size and plus-size models walking side-by-side in the same design.

Omri says she crafted a size 2 sample size (the industry standard) and a size 20 as her "way of giving it back to the industry and all the people who told me in the beginning that this can't be done."

Before fashion week became a global spectacle, it was designed to be a "glorified trade show," Shelley says, adding that the focus was primarily on the clothes rather than the faces and bodies wearing them.

Consumers have since changed their attitudes toward viewing models as clothing racks, but that doesn't change the dollars and cents of it all. Omri says making a size 2 and a size 20 sample size is "double the cost," because you can't simply use the size 2 pattern and make it larger when those body types are different.

Where does fashion go from here?

The industry, despite its pushes toward inclusivity, continues to need more work.

Johansson says the issue is "nuanced" and the crux is a lack of trust.

"When we aren't seeing ourselves represented, we don't have that trust. We are hesitant to try something, even if it is in our size, because we haven't had that representation there," she explains.

Scalesse underscores that demand has to be there for the momentum to continue.

"To see more people advocating for us in that space would just take a weight off our shoulders," she says. "Being disabled is hard. Being a model is definitely hard work. And just to have people who have our back would be really incredible."

Shelley says he tried to create a union amongst casting directors in order to "blacklist clients for bad behavior (so) they wouldn't do bad behavior," but the resistance made it clear some don't want to change the industry.

Transparency is also key. "'We're working on it' is something we've been hearing for years, and sometimes there's no follow-through whatsoever. Or sometimes it's like, Oh, here's a 2X.' They're throwing crumbs and asking us to appreciate the crumbs," says Johansson. "We want more."

Source: USA Today

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