By 
Milan Fashion Week 2024
This year, I observed the Milan Fashion Week 2024 fashion shows with curiosity and a critical eye. I wanted to investigate the diversity of the skin colour of the models who walked the runways.
Where does this idea of mine come from? From a frivolous conversation we had at lunchtime. It focused on how Hermès included models of colour in its show in 2022. This was supposed to be a lighthearted conversation about how a brand was opening up to more diversity.
On the contrary, I found myself in a real debate. My interlocutor did not find this move correct and saw it as a moral duty and a marketing construction. By the way, this statement will certainly open up another potential article. So I wanted to investigate further. How many brands and with what incidence do they choose models of different nationalities and especially skin colour?
The observer’s perspective
Nowadays, those who watch fashion shows perceive, perhaps unconsciously, that the world of fashion is changing. The canon of the ideal model is no longer the Euro-American one (thinness aside! Because this too is a sore point). I wanted to observe precisely this aspect and understand what and how much the concrete opening towards greater diversity was.
The method to count the incidence of skin colour in models on the catwalk was the following. Observing the entire fashion show; then counting the exact number of white Euro-American, Asian and Black models walking down the runway.
It should be noted that black skin colour could be open to further investigation. The word black skin hides and includes different shades having greater or fewer discriminations. It is based on how much the tone is closest to the colour of white European/American skin. In this regard, I recommend you read my article Stop Colourism!
While observing the models on the catwalk, you might catch me out, as the same model can repeatedly appear. Correct observation, but the perspective is the spectator’s eye who does not pay attention to the model who walks twice. Instead, they unconsciously perceive the model’s skin colour.
Top Brands Under Consideration
Choosing the following brands was a random choice. They are 10 in total. In alphabetical order: Brunello Cucinelli, Dolce & Gabbana, Emporio Armani, Fendi, Ferragamo, GCDS, Gucci, Loro Piana, Max Mara and Versace.
What was my expectation?
In the fashion industry, we talk about inclusion, demonizing diversity in favour of an equality that does not create discrimination. Therefore, the expectation was to find the most balanced percentages possible leading to celebrating the diversity of skin colour.
The results: 4 out of 10 brands support diversity
Out of 490 passages on the runway, the results are as follows. 60% of the items in the show were worn by white-skinned models, 29% by dark-skinned models, and only 11% by Asian models.
In detail, let’s see those brands promoting the appearance of dark-skinned models instead of the usual European/American ones. GCDS with its 50% includes models with black or dark skin, compared to 42% of the appearances of models with white skin. Only 8% are Asian models.
Brunello Cucinelli does not include Asian models but celebrates black beauty with beautiful, voluminous African hair, counting 57% of appearances, compared to 43% of white models.
Ferragamo Ferragamo follows with 42% of appearances of dark-skinned models which reaches 54% by adding the appearances of Asian models. Fendi, on the other hand, is the only brand to have the highest incidence of appearances by Asian models at 23%, reaching a total of 55% with dark-skinned models.
All the other brands considered, however, favour the presence of European/American models: Versace with 72%, Emporio Armani with 70%, Gucci 69%, Loro Piana 67%, Dolce and Gabbana 64%, and finally Max Mara with 60%.
A Glance into Diversity
I would have expected a decidedly different outcome from this analysis. Perhaps Gucci strikes me more negatively than other brands. This is due to the brand’s deep and long-term celebration of diversity and campaigns covering this subject. I expected greater emphasis on the topic. However, I am surprised by Brunello Cucinelli’s choice of celebrating black beauty. It has always been a very conservative and geographically self-referential brand. Instead, it has demonstrated a new approach, stylistically speaking which I am sure deserves a separate study.
Surely this idea can open up a subsequent topic of conversation, i.e. what will we see during Paris Fashion Week?
All in all, Ultimately we could talk about a glance into diversity. We only see one angle, a hint of diversity, we are not yet at real equality. It is a partial vision there is still a long way to go.
