Comments on High Fashion Girl: Racism & Fashion

I want to quote your post in my blog. It can? And ...

2009-12-25T06:09:50.354-08:00

I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?

Claire, I could not agree more!

2009-11-28T14:40:13.601-08:00

Claire, I could not agree more!

"But that isn't profitable!" is such...

2009-11-28T13:33:33.553-08:00

"But that isn't profitable!" is such a bad argument for ignoring racial diversity. Ethics vs business aside, if magazines don't try it, don't give people time to get used to it and reevaluate, then how can they say that the change won't benefit them marvelously, long-run?

Well put, and I completely agree. Most of this &q...

2009-11-27T18:13:32.974-08:00

Well put, and I completely agree. Most of this "shock value" stuff is done to rile people up for the sake of publicity...

This is a sensitive issue, this black face scandal...

2009-11-27T15:37:23.167-08:00

This is a sensitive issue, this black face scandal is shock value for them, a way to raise awareness and be relevant even if on the negative side, they know people will be more likely to check out next issues even if just to search for new controversies. As far as Vogue around the world goes I don’t think it’s any different since they are mostly mirror publications with low budgets and mostly do not create their own editorials as is the case of Vogue Latin America and the ads are the same ones you get for say the American version. But as Fashion XK8 I’m interested on how the smaller publications compare.

Hey, I'm Grace, not Jenna. :) I did take that...

2009-11-27T12:40:28.061-08:00

Hey, I'm Grace, not Jenna. :)

I did take that into account, which is why I wrote, "Vogue could embrace advertising and fashion spreads in proportion to the population of the country in which it publishes." From what I've seen and read, there is a big lack of proportional advertising in Vogues from other countries. When I was in India, the Vogue India only reflected models that were as pale-skinned as they could be (an advertising norm in India). This saddened me because most of the women of India have very dark skin and yet this pale-skinned aesthetic is being touted as the standard.

I am curious to see actual statistical results from other vogues. I'll see what I can find. Thanks Lilly!

Hi Jenna, I am sure that you are addressing a sens...

2009-11-27T12:35:21.862-08:00

Hi Jenna, I am sure that you are addressing a sensitive topic here. It would be interesting to compare versions of let's say the China Vogue and the African Vogue (I am sure there is something like that) to the American Vogue. Because choosing only the American Vogue makes it not really globally representative. Perhaps we will face a surprise when we take that data also into account? You could contact fashion blogging girls (e.g. via IFB) from these countries and ask them to count out their national Vogues. Looking forward to the surely interesting results if you fancy that idea!
Love, Lilly

such a well thought out post. I'm glad that y...

2009-11-26T16:59:34.208-08:00

such a well thought out post. I'm glad that you backed it up with some data. Personally i try to avoid purchasing fashion zines because I feel that there is enough fashion content available for free on the internet, so your post just gave me another reason to avoid purchasing tangible fashion news. Although I am interested in the break down of race in smaller publications like Nylon, Jalouse, i-D, Another, Dazed and Confused, etc.

In some cases, Vogue is closer to reflecting the p...

2009-11-24T12:57:34.356-08:00

In some cases, Vogue is closer to reflecting the population as far as advertising goes (closest they got was 10%), but it's still not even stevens. They rarely, in the past, featured any ethnic models in their photo spreads, which is something that greatly dismays me. Once this fact came to the attention of the general public, they have begun featuring more ethnic models - "more" being a relative term.

And my overriding point is, that this isn't about racism so much as it is about profit. Advertising companies will put white models in their ads because that's what sells.

Let's talk about percentages though. There are several advertisements that I saw that featured over 4 models. If it were they case that their ads reflected the population, then it would be logical to surmise that three out of the four models were white. However, in every instance (with the exception of ads from Target), all of the models were white. I found that to be rather curious.

I wonder how closely Vogue readership demographics...

2009-11-23T20:51:46.080-08:00

I wonder how closely Vogue readership demographics follow the American race population breakdown.

Also, since you were counting models in advertisements it made me think about how those would be unique companies and each company will have a target customer. From a marketing perspective, if 74% of the populations base is white then it follows a company/brand is more likely to pick a model that reflects the largest portion of their target customer base.

Thanks, Jenna! It was good to hear from you. I loo...

2009-11-19T14:24:12.008-08:00

Thanks, Jenna! It was good to hear from you. I look forward to seeing your collage.

-Grace

i'm happy you acknowedged this issue in ur blo...

2009-11-19T14:12:44.283-08:00

i'm happy you acknowedged this issue in ur blog. i have too many thoughts and opinions on this topic to discuss further here but still wanted to give kudos to u for talking abt this. tonite i will be posting a collage of beauty from all spectrums. hope u enjoy. btw, love the red hair in ur pic. jenna pearle a la passionista place.