It's no secret that New York Fashion Week (NYFW) has captivated fashion lovers and likely will do so for years to come. But the magical industry has been a nightmare for champions of diversity and inclusivity
Fashion week is a playground for designers, where they set the stage for new, thought-provoking trends for the season to come. However, the industry has been criticized the past few years for not being inclusive enough — be it the size zero of their models, their ethnicity or their sexuality.
This year's fall fashion week, which happened back in March, boasted a model of color in every show — something many would argue should have already happened.
What's changing?
Although Spring/Summer 2018 shows are still happening this week, March's fashion week proved to be the most diverse yet. According to the Fashion Spot, 27.9 percent of models in shows held were women of color and predicted this to be an increasing trend.
This past Saturday, designer Christian Siriano broke boundaries by casting a transgender model in his Spring 2018 show. The model fit smoothly with the others walking in the show, and although there was no big "aha!" moment,
Designers like Rihanna want their models to do more than just look good — Vogue highlights in their recap of her FENTY X PUMA show that the designer's models are heavily involved in charity work in their free time.
Designer and Project Runway alum Michael Costello cast models up to size 20 for his show last Friday, and included models of many different ethnicities. The models included Liris Crosse, featured above.
Designers are slowly learning that they need to branch out in order to draw in more consumers...but should driving sales be the only reason they become more inclusive?