Women of Color Go Missing in December Fashion Mags
The chicks at Jezebel have a cadre of interns (okay, maybe just one) at their disposal with enough time on their hands to tally up the number of women of color in the December fashion editorial from the major fashion mags. Guess how many they found? Nada homegirls.
Here are the numbers for Vogue alone.
Vogue
Total number of ads: 173
Total number of black women: 10 (6 were celebrities)
Total number of Asian women: 3 (1 celebrity)
Total number of women of ambiguous race: 2 (1 celebrity)Total number of fashion spreads: 4
Total number of black women: 0
Total number of Asian women: 0
Total number of women of ambiguous race: 0
Surprising? No.
Disappointing? Yes.
Enough to make me give up my favorite fashion mags? Conflicted.
First of all, a little sniggling fact. Penelope Cruz is on the cover of this month’s Vogue. Yes, she’s a celebrity and no, it’s not nearly enough, but let’s at least give them one point for the Latina.
I am glad that mainstream (read: non-ethnic) media types are calling attention to the dearth of women of color in magazines. If every woman screams about it, then maybe editors will start to realize that there are enough women who want to see diversity in their fashion spreads that sales won’t end up in the gutter and Conde Nast and Hearst won’t have to shutter their doors the minute they put a brown face on a cover.
See how the numbers break down for the rest of the fashion magazines over at Jezebel.
