ARE RUNWAYS BECOMING LESS WHITE???

Marcus Lloyd, Arlenis Pena, and Ty Ogunkoya at 3.1 Phillip Lim

Runways are becoming more diverse, but not by much. Modeling agent Bethann Hardison told the New York Times, "The business was dry as a desert for a decade, and now you have Thom Browne, who makes clothes for skinny white boys, putting a very dark-skinned black boy in a show. That says a lot." However, George Brown, who owns modeling agency Red NYC, said, "We’re still stuck in tokenism. I thought this season, with [the all-black] Italian Vogue, we would see a more dramatic uptick. It didn’t bear fruit.” The Shophound has been tracking diversity quotients for each show, which seem to support Brown's sentiments. Minorities in Reem Acra's show, for example, included just two Asians and zero black models; minorities in Chris Han's show included two Asians and one black model.

MODEL SPOTLIGHT: THE NEW KID...

For those of you whom followed the shows at Men’s Fashion Week S/S '09 in Milan, I'm sure this is a familiar face. He's Ty Ogunkoya, he fresh face who stormed on the scene from Independent Models. While new, his resume already boasts major bookings for shows like Hermes, Dior, Versace and Etro. Oh and let's not forget about his only campaign out with United Colors of Benetton shot by David Sims. Just enough to create a buzz. I'm sure we'll be seeing much more from him in the future.