Black Girl Dipped in Vanilla

A Black Girl Dipped in Vanilla: The Struggles of a Black Model

What is the most common trend that you see today in the fashion world? The answer to that would be a white and skinny model that has blonde hair and blue eyes. Caucasian models have been dominating the runways of the fashion world for many decades. It is very uncommon to see more than a few ethnic models on the runways today which often include Black models, Asian models, or even Latina models. According to a 2008 survey for New York Fashion Week, out of all the models used in the show, 87% of the models were white, while 6% were black and Asian models, and only 1% were that of Latina models (Steagall, 2008). The result of the survey shows that in the fashion world, black models are not their demographic. In other words, white sells and black does not! There have been many talented black individuals within the fashion industry that have worked very hard in changing this perception that many designers have towards black models. Of these many talented individuals, is Jessica Gregory. Jessica Gregory is a well known runway coach and mentor who has worked with many aspiring models including black models who want to make it far in the fashion industry (Gregory, 2011). She has been very famous for coaching models and helping them to improve their runway strut as well as their confidence. As a result of her success many of the models she has coached have walked the runway for high fashion designers such as Jean Paul Gautier and Versace. Jessica Gregory in many ways is like the Jamaican supermodel Stacey McKenzie who also tries very hard to help struggling models such as black models build confidence and runway strut in the Fashion world so that they can make it far and become successful models one day (Gregory, 2011). One of the many obstacles that black models often face today are the features that they have. Being an African American model in the fashion world is not easy! Often times,...