NCS
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Lack of diversity is arguably one of the most important points going through the style business. British mannequin Leomie Anderson is extra vocal than most on the topic.
Earlier this yr, throughout New York Fashion Week, she took to Twitter to voice her outrage on the topic when she was paired with an ill-equipped make-up artist who was unable to work along with her pores and skin tone.
“Why is it that the black make-up artists are busy with blonde, white girls and slaying their make-up and I have to supply my own foundation?” she tweeted.
She’s not at all the primary to talk out on the problem.
Most lately Naomie Campbell, who arrange the initiative Balance Diversity with activist Bethan Hardisson and ex-supermodel Iman, echoed Leomie’s issues in an interview with Teen Vogue: “When I was younger, I encountered this same issue. I would be backstage at shows and there would be stylists who didn’t have any experience working with black models.”
In the premier episode of NCS Style’s “Soapbox” sequence – the place key artistic and business figures communicate passionately about a difficulty of their selecting – Leomie expands upon her earlier feedback.
“When black models do speak out I feel like the first thing people say is, ‘oh she’s fierce, oh she’s a diva.’ It’s nothing to do with me being a diva it’s just that I want to feel as comfortable as a white model when I go out on the runway.”
Signed to Premier Model Management in London, she first got here to the general public’s consideration in 2011 by way of Channel 4’s fly-on-the-wall documentary sequence, The Model Agency.
Leomie has walked for the likes of Jeremy Scott, Ashish and Kanye West, and made her Victoria Secret debut final yr.
In addition to her profitable modeling profession she launched her own blog in 2012, which regularly describes her experiences within the business.