What does it mean when journalists use the phrase ‘diversity in fashion’. Is this phrase another way to tick another box?
As a British Asian young woman, I have never thought to question the word diversity, as I feel that it has become a buzzword. As diversity in fashion has become a huge talking point in the last few years, I have realised that it still isn’t being understood. I can say with my hand to my heart that the only well known, global indian editorial models that I know are Neelam Gill and Saffron Vadher. I have not seen changes in magazines with the representation of diversity, as you can’t just slap on the cover someone who would tick the box. People might say “wow, look how diverse iD magazine is being”, but you have to look at the bigger picture.
Let’s look at how much England has ticked the right boxes. The population is approximately 66 million. According to Census 2011, 80% of the U.K are white British, 6.8% is Asian and 3.4% is Black. Within both Asian and Black communities, the percentages are of both immigrants and British born. You have to ask yourself why South Asian are not being represented. As you can see through the statistics, Britain is made up of more than just white Britain. Burberry did a campaign called English Rose in 2014, this was were Neelam Gill made her first appearance alongside Malaika Firth who is Kenyan British born. This campaign was the start of how Burberry which is an iconic British brand, looked at the more ‘diverse’ ways of portraying England.
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Simran Bhullar, 23, is a Brit-Asian woman and has been watching the way fashion has become more diverse with the models that have been used. Neelam Gill has been a huge influence as before “no one resembled me, unless if I watched Bollywood films” Simran told me. I asked Simran many questions about how it feels to be placed into a category or box and her response was interesting the mood in the room changed. She told me that “diversity has become more prominent but it is not like we didn’t exist before so why has it taken this long”. You could see the frustration in her face and gave a huge sigh when just saying the phrase diversity in fashion. I told Simran that the feeling is mutual and the whole interview become more of a debate and me challenging everything being said.
Our conversation together started to look at how diversity, as a word, needs to be used correctly and “you can’t just say fashion is diverse anymore as the whole issue behind diversity becomes lost”. Simran then tells me about what diversity means to her and you could not only hear the passion but also see it through what she was saying. Simran told me that diversity is about inclusivity and how we should not judge someone because of their race, gender or creed. This isn’t an issue solely in fashion but in many different areas in multiple industries.
What is ‘diversity in fashion’ and is it another category? This is the question I have tried to answer for my own sanitary. Personally diversity is more that a word it is something that I understand as I am one of many people who have not felt like they have been represented in the media but my only concern about this word or phrase is that we are placing many boxes with one.
Is this the right direction? I open the floor to you who is reading this article and ask to hear your opinion via social media using the hashtag #boxticked.
