Despite being slammed by style mavens like Tim Gunn, Kanye West’s fashion week show had a positive impact in the fashion world.
Sure, Yeezy season 4 was far from perfect—models were reportedly suffering from dehydration after standing in the hot sun for hours—but there is one positive thing that’s come out of Kanye’s latest show. For the second year in a row, Kanye has presented the most diverse show we’ve seen at fashion week, with 97 percent of his models being women of color. (This number is actually down from his season 3 show, which featured 100 percent models of color.)
Many thought that this year, Kanye would strictly showcase minority models after his controversial casting call in September, which was open only to “multiracial” women.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) 3 September 2016
Other designers, such as Kimora Lee Simmons and Brandon Maxwell, seemed to make variety a priority as well, but others fell into the trend of only having “traditional” models. Designer Daniela Gregis’s collection was worn only by white models.
Say what you want about his designs, but at least Kanye is attempting to highlight different versions of beauty. Other designers should follow his lead.