It’s Time to Address The Exclusivity of Black Models
Leomie Anderson, a British model, recently took to TikTok and Twitter to explain her negative experience at the Christian Conway runway show for New York Fashion Week. The glam team there was ill-equipped to deal with her skin tone and hair type. She wrote on Twitter, “Being a Black model is doing other people’s jobs and not being paid for the extra work looool”.
First, a makeup artist backstage applied an ill-matching foundation and a second makeup artist failed to correct it. On camera, she showed three hairstylists roughly handling her hair in an attempt to style it. Anderson said she “felt ugly AF” and quickly redid her own face in 10 minutes before walking down the runway.
This is not the first time that’s happened to her, either. Over the course of her decade-plus career, the Victoria’s Secret model has routinely campaigned for change and shared horror stories, including an incident with a hairstylist who she said threatened to “ruin her career” after she protested having particular products put in her hair.
This is just a glimpse into a much deeper issue within the makeup industry and something that’s seen far too often. Many foundations and concealers do not come in enough shades to match darker skin tones. Some companies have made progressive strides to implement darker shades, including Rihanna’s line, Fenty Beauty. The point here is that Rihanna herself is a woman of color. White-owned beauty brands should be making more of an effort to diversify their product lines to compliment all skin types.
The same goes for Black hair-care lines, but many companies are headed in the right direction. There are various sources that have published lists of the best Black hair-care brands to be on the lookout for, the most predominant being Allure.
This shows how exclusive of different races and ethnicities the backstage fashion world tends to be. The people responsible for making these models look their best are often limited in their abilities to work with people of color—and Black beauty professionals also struggle to get hired.
Anderson’s experience was just one of the many instances. It left her feeling like she “wanted to go home,” and she pleaded that fashion houses hire more Black hair and makeup artists so that other Black models wouldn’t have to endure similar treatment. Londone Myers is another model who has dealt with inequality in the industry. In 2017, after Myers walked in Paris Fashion Week, Ashley Chew, also a Black model, coined the hashtag, #BlackModelsMatter in solidarity.
It’s important we learn to recognize and embrace peoples’ differences as opposed to treating them as a ‘challenge.’ With that comes hiring the right people and making a conscious effort to make sure that everyone is appreciated and included. It’s time the beauty and fashion industries start doing better. If you have a story to tell or need to speak up about a negative experience you’ve had, feel free to DM them to @theedgemag to be shared.