Top Black Industry Insiders, Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs, Naomi Campbell, Bethann
Hardison, Tyson Beckford, Tracy Reese, Andre Leon Talley And Many Others
Sound Off About The Sharp Decline In African American Images In The Fashion
Industry
NEW YORK, May 28 -- According to targetmarketnews.com,
Black women in the United States spend more than $20 billion on apparel
each year. Unfortunately the runways, magazine spreads and the image/beauty
industry at large are increasingly ignoring their buying power and their
existence by choosing instead to market an Eastern-European form of beauty
as the standard. This global decrease in the use of African Americans
models in top campaigns and in major fashion shows has sparked the
question: has Black become unfashionable? On Thursday May 29 at 8:30 PM,
BET News goes behind the scenes of New York's Fashion Week to find the
answer in a half hour special, FASHION BLACKOUT. Top Black industry
insiders, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Naomi Campbell, Bethann Hardison, Tyson
Beckford, Tracy Reese, Andre Leon Talley and many others sound off about
the sharp decline in African American images in the fashion industry, the
blatant racism and their plans on how to keep the Black model from becoming
extinct.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070716/BETNETWORKSLOGO )
At New York's September 2007 Fashion Week the runways were dominated by
white faces. In fact, Black faces were more absent from the runways than
some fashion insiders have seen since the '60s. Of the 101 runway shows,
more than 1/3 employed no Black models; most of the others used just one or
two. Blacks fared no better overseas: When the fashion caravan moved to
London, Paris and Milan, the most influential shows -- from Prada to Jil
Sander to Balenciaga to Chloe and Chanel -- made it appear as if someone
had hung a sign reading: No Blacks Need Apply. So is the fashion industry
racist or are Blacks simply not in season? FASHION BLACKOUT will explore
the issues and how the exclusion of an entire race has a negative effect on
Black women and their sense of self-worth.
For more on FASHION BLACKOUT viewers can go online to
http://www.bet.com/OnTV/BETShows/fnbo.htm
About BET Networks
BET Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is the
nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public
affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The
primary BET channel reaches more than 87 million households according to
Nielsen Media Research, and can be seen in the U.S., Canada and the
Caribbean. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a
diverse group of businesses extensions: BET.com, a leading internet
destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET Digital
Networks -- BET J, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for
cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Event Productions, a full-scale
event management and production company; BET Home Entertainment, a
collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs
and video-on-demand; BET Mobile, which offers ringtones, games and video
content for wireless devices; and BET International, an extension of BET
network programming for global distribution.
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