1908.JL.XVII

The receipts for 2014 are in and, unsurprisingly, diversity in the fashion industry is still looking embarrassingly bleak. Jihan Forbes of The Fashion Spot reviewed the covers of 44 major fashion print publications this year and found that of the 611 covers, models of colour made up just 119 of the total appearances. (For this report, a “model” means anyone appearing on a cover even if that person’s occupation is not model - so celebrities are included.)

The source does not specify exactly which magazines were surveyed, however points out that in 2014 neither Heart Magazine’s Harper’s Bazaar US nor it’s UK counterpart used ANY models of color. NOT ONE. 

According to the report several Vogue editions also shamefully did not feature any models of colour: Vogue Netherlands, Vogue Ukraine, Vogue Russia, Teen Vogue, Vogue UK, and Vogue Paris. The latter three have a monthly readership of over 1 million each. In addition to these, LOVE Magazine (also under the Condé Nast umbrella), Porter (online retailer Net-a-Porter’s magazine that launched this year), and French publication Numéro all put out completely white-washed covers this year.

Perhaps equally as disappointing is that white models continue to dominate Asian publications too with Vogue Korea casting models of colour 4 times and Vogue Japan only 3 times.