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Our Expectations Are Different Than Our Hopes For Fashion

Samantha Dilley |
July 13, 2015 | 10:28 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

(Creative Commons)
(Creative Commons)
July 1st  marks the start of a new month, the middle of what has become a fleeting 2015, and (more importantly) the end of a monotonous hierarchy in fashion. Last week, Teen Vogue debuted their August 2015 cover with the three “new faces of fashion”: Aya Jones, Imaan Hammam, and Lineisy Montero. All beautiful young girls, all identified as “black.” 

At 20 years old, the French-Ivorian beauty Aya Jones has already walked in “47 runway shows” and was named one of Spring 2015’s top models by Style.com because of her breakout in Prada’s Spring 2015 Ready-to-Wear show. Aya’s career continues to skyrocket, as she continues to book work for top designers and high-fashion brands such as Miu Miu and Valentino.

Then comes, Imaam Hammam. Although she is Egyptian-Moroccan by blood, she is unapologetically unreserved with how quick she is to identify the difference between race and ethnicity. She says, "Sometimes people call me Middle Eastern, and I'm like, 'No, I'm black.' I am proud of my culture, proud of who made me, proud to be here.” Teen Vogue says, her “career defining Givenchy campaign” in the Spring 2015 show made herself a name in fashion. Since then, she’s walked for Victoria’s Secret, become an "Instagirl" for Vogue alongside Cara Delevingne, Karlie Kloss, and other "It" social media stars, and been featured in Mario Testino’s exclusive “Towel Series,” along with the likes of Selena Gomez, Kendall Jenner, and Blake Lively.

READ MORE: How Cara Delevingne Is Conquering Hollywood

Lastly, at just 19 years old, Lineisy Montero’s first appearance on the runway was earlier this year during Milan Fashion Week, when she walked for Prada’s Fall 2015 line. She quickly became one of the most talked about models when she walked wearing her natural hair in a short afro, a style that is completely atypical for a designer to approve. Bethann Hardison, a famous fashion activist and model, responded to the fashion world's reaction and said “Mrs. Prada responded to [Montero’s] natural beauty and wanted to keep her exactly as she was.”

Even though these girls have been incredibly successful relative to how recent their start in the industry was, their Teen Vogue cover is hands down their most remarkable feat to date. The response received following Teen Vogue’s exclusive look at their cover on Instagram last week reminds us that, although they exist due to the other, fashion and the media are two independent evils.

Not to say that fashion has a flawlessly accepting attitude that is entirely socially conscious of race, because that it certainly is not. But, the fashion world has been exponentially more progressive in the last ten years than the media has featured. Take Montero’s textured Afro in Miucci Prada’s show this past year. Montero crossed insubstantial racial boundaries by wearing her natural hair, that was duly noted in the fashion world, yet without media coverage or her spread in Teen Vogue, the groundbreaking attempt to alleviate racial monotony would have remained a secret within high fashion. Mass audiences would most likely never hear of her story, unless they were a part of the fashion industry. Meanwhile, it does not take a fashion major or Prada enthusiast to recognize faces like Candice Swanepoel or Kate Upton, because they are the ones that the magazines feature. 

READ MORE: Could Los Angeles Be The Next Fashion Capital?

Teen Vogue continually predetermines and launches the careers of now successful and established young models. Karlie Kloss was discovered by the magazine’s Booking Director, Lara Bonomo, who immediately fell in love and put Kloss on the cover of an issue that year. Since then she has had a spread for Vogue, been a Victoria’s Secret model, and walked for brands like Louis Vuitton and Oscar De La Renta during Fashion Week. 

With such power comes a certain responsibility. After interning at a publishing company this summer, I’ve realized that the scary and evil abstract notion of “The Media,” is hardly abstract at all. In fact, it is quite the opposite. It is not an unstoppable or dissuadable entity, but instead "real people" behind a brand who have power over the material they are publishing and featuring. Although we should absolutely praise the editors responsible for such confidence in their vision for the August issue, shouldn’t we expect the unexpected from companies with the discretion to shuffle their set list instead of play it on repeat? 

The August Teen Vogue spread calls attention to problems with fashion and the media as disparate entities. A spread like this demands the media, as an industry, to recognize their power, voice, and their position to remedy what has been a more than tumultuous year for race relations in America. Although the fashion industry is notoriously criticized for a collectively narrowed and unhealthy portrayal of beauty across the board, I think that fashion deserves a lot more credit than it receives. There is still a lot of work to be done, but a large part of that comes from the media that projects what is going on in fashion, an industry that has been changing it’s standards and evolving with the public’s demand for change.

When all media can accurately depict the ins and outs of the fashion world, like Teen Vogue has just done with their new issue, then we can work towards equality in facets like race and sexuality in the public eye. Until then, people can pioneer their way through the deepest of the seas, but until the media can support the pillar that fashion stands on, the inequality will remain. Thanks Teen Vogue for your confidence and recognition of real beauty, and for doing your damn job. 

Reach Staff Reporter Samantha Dilley here.



 

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