Despite being one of the most photographed faces in the industry, 23-year-old Dunn speaks out on how there is still a long way for the industry to go when it comes to representation of black models and the need for more diversity on the catwalk is key.
“I find it weird when agents say, ‘You’re the only black girl booked for the show. Isn’t it great?’ Why is it great? I don’t know why people applaud designers for having just one ethnic model,” she says. “It’s not like only one type of woman loves fashion.”
She is certainly not alone in her criticism, having already joined the Diversity Coalition set up by Naomi Campbell in 2012 to campaign for awareness and change within the industry.
This is not the first time we have heard the London-born model speak publicly about her dissatisfaction of being a black model working in a predominantly white business. She was notoriously dropped from Dior’s Haute Couture show last June because of her chest size, although used the opportunity to raise awareness on Twitter that all too often she had been dropped because of her skin color.
Balmain’s latest AW14 show came under fire last month also when tFS noted that IMG model Ajak Deng tweeted that she had been dropped as a result of her race.
Whilst Jourdan is among the few black models that receive a great deal of coverage both in print and on the catwalk, it is the very idea of seemingly being a token addition that has become the problem and calls for the fashion world to address the balance.
Read Jourdan Dunn’s full interview in Miss Vogue, free with British Vogue, out today.
Watch: Who Cares About Diversity? A tFS Roundtable Discussion [theFashionDish]
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