Was Kanye West wrong to seek to cast 'multiracial women only'?
Kanye West has sent out a casting call for his forthcoming Yeezy Season 4 fashion show, which is set to be a centrepiece of New York fashion week. “Multiracial women only. No makeup please come as you are,” read the sheet, posted on Twitter. Accordingly, it caused controversy.
The replies attempted to read between the lines. “So no black women??”, “no white women either?”, was the tone of the dialogue. “It’s art. It’s a casting call. Absolutely allowed. That’s how casting works,” read one.
In Hollywood and on stage, the controversy surrounding certain casting decisions (such as that of Noma Dumezweni to play Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, for example) have only shown up the rigid attitudes that congregate around those worlds.
Fashion’s young attitude and the seasonal nature in which it operates means it is a quicker reflection of societal changes. Take, for example, the rise of the so-called Instagram “It girls”, such as the Hadid sisters and Kendall Jenner, as well as Vine star Cameron Dallas replacing Justin Bieber in the Calvin Klein ads. This has shone a light on the importance of an online personality bringing her or his personal brand and fan base to a fashion brand. The rise of transgender models like Hari Nef modelling for Gucci, and Andrej Pejic starring in adverts for Marc Jacobs and Gaultier, meanwhile, suggests both acceptance and an awareness of the column inches created by such casting.
The racially diverse runway, meanwhile, is currently a norm. Designers like Nasir Mazhar and Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing have pushed a diverse agenda on their runways, featuring models such as Damaris Goddrie or Leomie Anderson. In fact, it was jarring when the modernist quake caused by the Vetements show was tempered by the lack of diversity of the models, a thing that its creative director, Demna Gvasalia, seemed to be mindful of in his debut collection for Balenciaga. It is also speaks to an international economic reality. As Christopher Michael, executive agent at Society Management in New York, told Vogue: “Right now the No 1 driving force is diversity. Brands are looking to global culture.”
Surely the main point about West’s casting call to Yeezy hopefuls (a brand with an avant-garde take on athleisure and a haute price tag) was that it was an accurate extension of its brand: woke but also economically driven.
