How people with dark skin are viewed in the modeling industry?
“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” –Audre Lorde
for an industry that supposedly advocates self confdence, there have been a lot of discrimination and colorism present in the modelling industry. Sad to say, but discrimination against models with darker complexion tones has discouraged a lot of talent.
Akhila Premasani, a former aspiring model with dark skin, experienced a lot of prejudice while working as a model. According to her,” there is an unspoken rule in the industry when it comes to casting. They have a requirement for fair-skinned models and usually prefer girls from north India. “
The presence of many fair-skinned models leads to an increase in the sales of bleaching creams and lightening makeup. No wonder research carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that majority of the skin care products in India is created to “brighten”,” lighten”,” enhance” complexions and the estimated revenue of the skin lightening industry is $500million in India alone.
This demonstrates the effects that consistently displaying a lighter skin tone has on consumers. People find it more difficult to truly appreciate and recognize the beauty in dark skin as a result.
Certain characteristics are viewed as more beautiful in India. This conditioning can be attributed to the modern consumerist agenda that has been spread over decades.
“You should apply this cream,” “Try out this sunscreen,” “Are you going out in the sun a lot,” and “You’ve gotten darker.” People with darker skin tones frequently hear remarks like these from “well-meaning” people. Even if this isn’t always a bad thing to say, it implies that being dark skinned is a situation that needs to be changed. This demonstrates that colorism and prejudice against people with darker skin tones are widespread.
The fight against discrimination is something that people with dark complexion must practically wage every day.
It’s time for everyone to accept that it’s okay to be dark, in fact, it’s more than okay. “Dark is a beautiful skin complexion,” says renowned photographer Sharath Shetty. “There is no color without black, just as there is no color without white.” That was the purpose of the photoshoot. “I’ve never understood why people insist on fairness being superior.”.
Thankfully, things have started to change over the past few years, and now more dark-skinned models than ever before are gracing our screens.
Designer Anavila Sindhu Misra says.“I love to showcase my creations on real women; that’s the language we have created. Today, we see models who are black, tribal or from minority races being accepted in fashion,”
Consider Sharath Shetty’s recent series of photographs of model Revathy Iyer as an example. Images of her ebony-toned face became the topic of conversation in the fashion industry. In one striking photo, the model’s face stands out as noticeably darker than the rest of her body.
Also, Priyanka Aelay who is an artist was reported to say that when she worked with Guarang Shang, he preferred using darker skinned models as. She says” he always insisted on having dusky models, not only for photoshoots but also for the ramp. Also, if you see Telangana art, beauty is seen in the dark or dusky women of the region”.
Even internationally, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of supermodels with dark skin, such as Adut Akech, Ajok Madel, and Anok Yai, among others, adorning the runways.
Also in 2014, Four black celebrities graced the cover of a major US fashion magazine for the first time.
Diversity has also been observed to be important to some creatives as well as the general population.
A photo exhibition tagged dark is beautiful was curated by Rahul Reddy of Octopus Studio in 2014. In his words,” The idea is to convince the world that beauty has nothing to do with the color of a person’s skin.
” He also said that he realized the impact of the campaign when the mother of one of the models’ walked up to him and thanked him saying, “I have never seen my daughter so happy. At least from now, she will not think she is not beautiful because of her skin color”
There has also been a rise in the preference of dark skin among photographers. For instance, Sailesh Singhania, a designer says. “South Indian saris, especially silk saris, suit dusky complexion better. I always feel my saris look beautiful on dark models,”
Although there are still some people who have preconceptions towards people with different skin tones, it’s encouraging to know that more and more people are looking past skin color and complexion since true beauty transcends ethnicity and color.
There is more to beauty than what the eye can see. In the words of Jhansi an Indian Television anchor” beauty is not what is sold to you; it’s a package of your personality, how you present yourself and how all of this comes together”
