Life
Brazil: More black models should be included in Rio fashion show
“I am often told: What am I going to do with your hair? And for make-up, I am always the last so as not to dirty the brush with overly dark tones,” she added.
Last June, during Black Consciousness Week, Genot organized a debate on “ethnic diversity in fashion” at PUC.
“We are told that the winter collection is for whites in Europe or that black women’s butts are too big, their hips too wide. I am shocked to see that in Brazil, where more than half of the people are descendants of black slaves, there is so little space for us,” she added.
“Brazil’s population is very mixed and this must be reflected in fashion,” Genot said.
“The fashion weeks are cruel for Rio models who are curvier and tanned,” Sergio Mattos of 40° Models told the O Globo daily.
Thus, Bruna Loureiro, a blue-eyed blonde, was dropped from a show because her skin was found to be “too golden” while the label wanted “very pale skins.”
The debate on quotas even found its way into the popular “Big Brother Brasil” reality show on Wednesday night.
Asked about the need for quotas in the show, Daniel Echaniz, a professional model and the only black among the 12 contestants, said he was “against”, a minority view among blacks but one which is backed by those who think “it (quotas) exacerbates racism”.
Copyright 2012 AFP.
