Supermodel Joan Smalls Speaks Out About Fashion's Discrimination Problem

In many ways, 2016 has been a real doozy, leaving many of us counting down the days ‘til NYE with the same fervor usually reserved for Kylie’s latest Lip Kit drop. But the shining light in the tough year has been the acknowledgement of some serious issues, like sexual assault and discrimination across industries. To fix fashion’s diversity problem, we have to start by bringing it out in the open—which is exactly what models Joan Smalls and Hari Nef did at Business of Fashion’s recent VOICES summit.

While on a panel about diversity, Joan Smalls, who is mixed race, and Hari Nef, who is transgender, got real about some of the discrimination they’ve faced. “You should be reflective of the world you live in,” said Smalls. “I look at this crowd, beautiful faces from different backgrounds and that’s the world I see. So when I see a runway with all the same models that are just cloned, I’m like: ‘Is that your beauty? Is that your world?’ It’s very one-sided and bland. Brands have to be more open-minded when they choose their cast; they hold a responsibility to represent consumers.”

Nef echoed Small’s sentiment, saying: “There needs to be a greater awareness of who wears the clothes. The fashion industry fetishizes diversity. It’s like diversity day. But that never means a blue chip campaign or a big contract.”

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More on fashion's ongoing conversation on diversity:

1. Model Recreated Popular Ad Campaigns to Make a Statement About Representation and Diversity
2. Calvin Klein Model Ebonee Davis Speaks Out About Racism in Fashion
3. Danielle Brooks Says Everything You Were Thinking About Body Diversity

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At the summit, which brings together big thinkers and big names across the industry, diversity and discrimination were central issues—no surprise considering many businesses have not only started paying attention to these issues, but actually started taking steps to address them. Earlier this year in preparation for New York fashion week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America issued an explicit mandate to designers: be inclusive in casting or else. Still, women of diverse ethnic backgrounds are often scarce, or to Nef’s point, treated as novelties in major campaigns. And don’t even get us started on the lack of body diversity on runways and in mainstream ads.

The conversation is certainly an ongoing one, but the fact that the industry is having it means there’s a lot of hope for 2017.

Model Paloma Elsesser on the lack of diversity on the runway: