London Fashion Week goes against Sadiq Khan’s Open London Initiative

A creative photo and video series from the Women-Friendly Fashion (#WomenFriendlyFashion, #WFF) initiative, calls for more representation at London Fashion Week in honour of the 21st of May – UN’s International Cultural Diversity Day.

According to the Fashion Diversity Report 2018, spring 2018 was the first season in which a London designer hired a non-straight-size model. Of the 541 models to appear in a Spring 2018 ad campaign, only 10 were plus-size.
Only four models who openly identify as trans or non-binary landed a Spring 2018 fashion campaign. Women over the age of 50 also saw less representation this ad season than last with only 10 castings across 9 campaigns, as compared to last season’s 14 across 8. See more here.

To complement Sadiq Khan’s Open London initiative, an alternative fashion initiative has been released to highlight this lack of diversity in London’s fashion industry and to encourage viewers to sign a petition supporting a movement for change.

The petition demands the British Fashion Council to pledge representative diversity on the catwalks by AW 2020 and enforce diversity guidelines for designers showing in the capital. With the belief that London’s name should not be used to promote a singular, narrow image of beauty which damages the mental, social and economic state of women due to the prioritisation of shareholder interest and profit.

The Women Friendly Fashion ambition is that by increasing female diversity at one of London’s premier annual events, in one of the UK’s highest grossing economic sectors that there will be substantial benefits to both women as a collective group and to the wider industry.

Recent reports have shown that the global fashion industry is experiencing fundamental changes. The end-customer is demanding more transparency and accountability. While some product and service providers have quickly noticed the changes and adjusted their business priorities to support customer-centric approaches, the British Fashion Council has yet to change its stance on diversity. WFF believe this is in direct opposition to Sadiq Khan’s pledge for an open and diverse London.

Women Friendly Fashion is calling for change, where diversity and individuality are instead recognised and celebrated as the driving factors for social and economic growth.

Please help to spread the world and support the initiative by signing a petition.

Thank you to ElephantJournal to share this article.

Sabina and the Team of creative London volunteers.

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