From designers to models to business executives, no one could argue that the fashion industry isn't disproportionately comprised of white individuals. Approximately 80 percent of the models walking in the past four New York Fashion Weeks were white, less than 3 percent of fashion week designers are African American, and, as Stylite points out, all but two major fashion magazines featured a white woman on the cover of their September issue.
"Project Runway" judge Nina Garcia recognizes fashion's lack of diversity, but she sees hope in the progress that's been made already. The Marie Claire creative director explained to HuffPost Live on Wednesday:
I think the industry's already addressing those points of view. I think there's not enough African-American girls on the runway -- that is a huge problem. There's not enough African-American girls on the covers. But that is changing, and really the change has started, so I feel very optimistic.
The lack of diversity extends to fashionistas of different sizes, as women above sample size are rarely represented on runways or fashion pages. While Marie Claire regularly prints a fashion tips column from a plus-size woman, Garcia knows the whole spectrum of bodies is not receiving enough visibility.
"If you think of it, if you came from outer space and looked at a magazine, you'd be like, 'Everyone is so skinny in the fashion business and everybody in Earth is so tiny!'" Garcia affirmed. "That is not the reality. We all have different shapes and different sizes."
"We need to make everybody aware," she added. "We need more. In all platforms."
Watch more from Nina Garcia's conversation with HuffPost Live here.
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