Milan Takes Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

WHITES ONLY???

Remember when we were singing the praises of Italian Vogue for their all-Black model issue last July? Sistas all over the world got their Dora The Explorer on looking for the coveted issue. We thought maybe, just maybe the fashion industry would open its doors to models of color, particularly Black models. Well, the designers that showed at New York Fall '09 Fashion Week got the memo. Jezebel's stats show that there was an 18% increase in models of color cast for shows, with 41% of the models of color being Black. Some sistas either opened or closed several shows including our girl Jourdan Dunn who opened AND closed Oscar de la Renta! WHOO HOO!

Then along came Milan.

New York Magazine reports that the top Italian designers Gianfranco Ferré, Giorgio Armani,Jil Sander, Marni, Missoni, Moschino, Prada, and Salvatore Ferragamo did not have ANY models of color. Not. One.

"...And the few times when designers did book ethnic models, they picked from a small, highly-selective pool of girls: Jourdan Dunn, Liu Wen Marina Peres (Dunn, Wen, and Peres were the most requested girls from their respective groups.)

...We noticed that most of the girls had just one turn down the runway, while their Eastern European counterparts had two."

NYMag.com breaks down the stats:

Aquilano e Rimondi
Asian: 2 (Tao Okamoto, Liu Wen)
Black: 0
Latina: 1 (Daiane Conterato)
White: 36 of 39

Alberta Ferretti
Asian: 2 (Tao Okamoto, Du Juan)
Black: 1 (Jourdan Dunn)
Latina: 4 (Marina Peres, twice; Raquel Zimmermann; Daiane Conterato, twice; Bruna Tenorio)
White: 35 of 44

Alessandro Dell'Acqua
Asian: 1 (Tao Okamoto)
Black: 1 (Jourdan Dunn)
Latina: 1 (Raquel Zimmermann, twice)
White: 26 of 30

Blumarine
Asian: 1 (Lakshmi Menon, twice)
Black: 1 (Chanel Iman, twice)
Latina: 3 (Isabeli Fontana, twice; Viviane Orth, twice; Gracie Carvalho, twice)
White: 46 of 56

Bottega Veneta
Asian: 1 (Daul Kim)
Black: 2 (Chanel Iman, Arlenis Sosa)
Latina: 3 (Raquel Zimmermann, twice; Daiane Conterato, Clara Alonso)
White: 28 of 35

Burberry
Asian: 0
Black: 1 (Rose Cordero, twice)
Latina: 0
White: 47 of 49

C'N'C Costume National
Asian: 1 (Shu Pei, twice)
Black: 3 (Aminata Niaria, twice; Georgie Baddiel, Ariel Meredith)
Latina: 0
White: 34 of 40

D&G
Asian: 2 (Daul Kim, Tao Okamoto)
Black: 2 (Chanel Iman, Jourdan Dunn)
Latina: 1 (Aline Weber)
White: 48 of 53

Dolce & Gabbana
Asian: 3 (Daul Kim, Liu Wen, Tao Okamoto)
Black: 2 (Jourdan Dunn, Chanel Iman)
Latina: 1 (Isabeli Fontana)
White: 58 of 64

DSquared2
Asian: 1 (Du Juan)
Black: 2 (Chanel Iman, twice; Jourdan Dunn, twice)
Latina: 0
White: 30 of 35

Emporio Armani
Asian: 0
Black: 0
Latina: 4 (Martha Streck, twice; Bruna Tenorio, Roza Gough, Martina Correa)
White: 49 of 54

Etro
Asian: 1 (Lakshmi Menon, twice)
Black: 1 (Jourdan Dunn, twice)
Latina: 0
White: 38 of 42

Fendi
Asian: 0
Black: 1 (Aminata Niaria, twice)
Latina: 0
White: 41 of 43

Gianfranco Ferré
Asian: 0
Black: 0
Latina: 0
White: 40 of 40

Giorgio Armani
Asian: 0
Black: 0
Latina: 1 (Bruna Tenorio, twice)
White: 47 of 49

Gucci
Asian: 1 (Liu Wen)
Black: 2 (Jourdan Dunn, twice; Chanel Iman, twice)
Latina: 2 (Raquel Zimmermann, three times, Marina Peres)
White: 40 of 49

Jil Sander
Asian: 0
Black: 0
Latina: 0
White: 57 of 57

Marni
Asian: 1 (Liu Wen, twice)
Black: 0
Latina: 2 (Daiane Conterato, twice; Marina Peres, twice)
White: 49 of 55

MaxMara
Asian: 3 (Lakshmi Menon, Liu Wen, twice; Tao Okamoto)
Black: 1 (Rose Cordero)
Latina: 1 (Aline Weber)
White; 36 of 42

Missoni
Asian: 1 (Liu Wen)
Black: 0
Latina: 0
White: 36 of 37

Moschino
Asian: 1 (Tao Okamoto)
Black: 0
Latina: 2 (Viviane Orth, Daiane Conterato)
White: 41 of 44

Moschino Cheap & Chic
Asian: 0
Black: 1 (Jourdan Dunn)
Latina: 0
White: 38 of 39

Pollini
Asian: 2 (Tao Okamoto, twice; Liu Wen)
Black: 0
Latina: 3 (Raquel Zimmermann, twice; Marina Peres, Daiane Conterato)
White: 25 of 32

Prada
Asian: 0
Black: 0
Latina: 1 (Marina Peres)
White: 39 of 40

Pucci
Asian: 1 (Liu Wen)
Black: 1 (Jourdan Dunn)
Latina: 0
White: 39 of 41

Roberto Cavalli
Asian: 2 (Daul Kim, Liu Wen)
Black: 1 (Chanel Iman)
Latina: 1 (Marina Peres)
White: 31 of 35

Salvatore Ferragamo
Asian: 0
Black: 0
Latina: 1 (Bruna Tenorio, twice)
White: 40 of 42

Sportmax
Asian: 1 (Tao Okamoto, twice)
Black: 1 (Aminata Niaria, twice)
Latina: 1 (Marina Peres, twice)
White: 46 of 52

Versace
Asian: 0
Black: 1 (Jourdan Dunn, twice)
Latina: 3 (Raquel Zimmermann, three times; Isabeli Fontana, twice; Bruna Tenorio)
White: 47 of 55

Should we really be surprised? Shawn Sutton, an up and coming Black model, told the New York Times that casting sheets at model castings for the recent Milan men's wear shows actually said, "No Blacks".

So much for a "post-racial" society, huh?