Today, the fashion world found out that Prada has made the decision to cast the first black model in one of their campaigns for nearly twenty years. Although I absolutely praise this decision, I feel the decision has brought out a bittersweet reaction.
It has drawn attention to the fact that there has been close to a two decade gap since a black model was used for such a campaign. This is why I ask the question, what has taken them so long?
In this day and age, when there are so many amazing models, of all races, why would they choose to only use white models? Well it seems their autumn/winter 2013 campaign, is attempting to break this mould, which I do admire massively. The campaign also features Asian model Fei Fei Sun, and Christy Turlington who is noticeably older than the average model used for previous Prada campaigns. Therefore this is quite clearly Prada’s attempt to make the brand more multi-cultural, diverse and accessible.
I just find it hard to believe there are still headlines about the fact that black models are being booked for such jobs, these headlines shouldn’t exist, because the isolation of black models in the fashion industry simply should not be happening. Of course, not all fashion houses exclude certain races, especially as there are so many incredible black supermodels… but by looking at these stunning faces Prada really does not have an excuse as to why it took them so long.
Natalie Sen
