Kanye Only Wants ‘Multiracial’ Models In His NYFW Show

Over the weekend Kanye West caused a social media furore when he tweeted to advertise the casting for his upcoming Yeezy Season 4 show, taking place this Wednesday during New York Fashion Week. The ceaselessly controversial star, stated that he was looking for 'multiracial women only' in his model call, and understandably people weren't pleased.

In an industry that is infamously non-representative, more inclusivity and racial diversity is undoubtedly necessary on the catwalk, but judging from the incensed reactions, Kanye West has gone about it in entirely the wrong way. Twitter was ablaze with users angered by the ambiguous term 'multiracial'. What does multiracial even mean? Aren't we all, to some degree, multiracial? Doesn't a term, which we can only assume is akin to mixed race, exclude those with darker or lighter skin tones? Was Kanye calling for no white or black people, just those somewhere in between? And how, pray tell, did West plan to assess the models' ethnic mix?

In March of this year, Demna Gvasalia, fashion's most lauded designer of the moment was condemned for casting only white models in both the Vetements and Balenciaga AW16 shows during Paris Fashion Week. When he was asked about his discriminatory casting in May by The Telegraph, Gvaslia answered, “Our criteria for choosing models was purely based on the idea of diversity of character. We had very different types of girls but Lotta [Volkova, stylist and model] who works with me, we come from this cultural background where [race] is not even an issue. We don’t even have that thing to think we have to be politically correct. I guess the criticism is justified but from my point of view it was the attitude of those girls that was important for me not the shade of their skin or their origin.” A half-hearted answer indeed, which left most critics unimpressed. But it seemed Gvasalia learned from his mistakes, or at least was disgruntled by the bad press and included non-white models in his Vetements couture show in July. Isn't Kanye's call for 'multiracial' models only as insulting as Demna's denial of ethnic minorities in the AW16 shows? Last season, The Fashion Spot analysed all of the models who hit the AW16 catwalks in New York, London, Paris and Milan, and results showed that shockingly only 24.75% of all models cast were not white. When will the fashion world wake up and become the accepting, celebratory and ethnically rich place that it ought to be in 2016? As the SS17 season looms, we can only hope that the catwalks will be more representative than ever and that brands will be inspired to be more inclusive in response to Kanye's ill-conceived casting call. Despite the controversy, Yeezy's casting was attended by a large number of eager hopefuls who queued in their droves at Jack Studios in New York yesterday. We'll have to wait until Wednesday to understand exactly what Kanye means by 'multiracial' but let's hope he decides before then to cast a diverse range of models.