Diversity Report: Fall 2022 Fashion Month

Fashion Month Fall 2022 felt like a return to form. We just haven’t seen an increase when it comes to street style, the number of in-person demonstrations skyrocketed. Although the face masks seen in the front row remind us that, Pandemic continues to affect the industry.

With the return of more live presentations, diversity has increased in nearly all categories. We’re talking about race, size, and gender. (The previous two had a significant improvement.) In fact, the only area where it floundered was booking over 50 models. This proves that there is still much work to be done.

Read on to see how Fall 2022 of Fashion Month goes.

RACE

Fall 2022 is the most racially diverse season ever. Well. We reviewed 4,409 model views in 193 keynotes and spring 2022Colors come out 48.6 percent to 48 percent in models. This is progress, but we expected a bigger blow.

Not surprisingly, New York was the most racially diverse city, with 54.9 percent non-white models. London followed with 50.9 percent. Paris left Milan behind with 46.3 percent and 45.2 percent color models, respectively.

While Paris and Milan were at the bottom this season, they actually showed a marked improvement from Spring 2022. The City of Light rose from 43.9 percent in Spring 2022, and Italy’s fashion capital has risen from non-white models to 43.3 percent. Interestingly, both New York and London’s numbers dropped. For spring 2022, the Big Apple rang at 55.5 percent, reaching 52.4 percent color patterns across the pond.

TOP MODELS

We’re pleased to report that more than half of the top 12 models of Fall 2022 Fashion Month are women of color. Venezuelan beauty América González has won an impressive 29 matches. It followed closely with the United States’ own Sherry Shi 28.

Nigerian Victoria Fawole was second with 26 points and Chinese model Yilan Hua was second with 25 points. Both Russian beauty Tanya Churbanova and Kenyan Caren Jepkemei scored 23 points. Canadian model Awar Odhiang retained the belt with 22 points. French beauty Loli Bahia and Senegalese/Italian stunner Maty Fall followed with 21 others. South Korean model Sora Choi, Belgian Louise Robert and androgynous model Miriam Sanchez rounded out the list with 20 each.

BIG SIZE

The Fall 2022 season saw an improvement when it comes to size diversity, with a record 103 plus-size looks, or 2.34 percent of total castings. (A good portion went to the color models.) Compare that to 81 in Spring 2022, which, while enough to give it number three, only accounted for 1.81 percent of all castings. The second highest season was actually Spring 2020 with 86 plus size castings.

New York was responsible for the vast majority with 51 players. Milan brought 20, Paris 17 and London 15.

There were many familiar faces. Paloma Elsesser was the most booked plus-size model in New York at six shows. She made two appearances in London, two times in Milan, and three times in Paris. Precious Lee scored four in New York, one in Milan, and one in Paris. Jill Kortleve boasted two in New York, two in Milan, and one in Paris. Sabina Karlsson has spread her appearance in three cities: London (two), Milan (two) and Paris (one).

We hope the number of plus size models for Spring 2023 will break this season’s record. Keep watching us.

TRANSFER / NON-BINARY

While far from a record, Fall 2022 saw a jump in gender representation. There were only 41 transgender and non-binary model appearances last season. This season, that number has grown to 59 percent, or 1.34 percent, of the total cast. Although, Spring 2019 still holds the upper hand thanks to its 91 appearances.

New York once again took the lead with 24 games. There were 13 in Paris, 12 in London and only 10 in Milan. Second, only one non-white model has reserved domestic non-duo model Valentine Alvarez, who also appears in Paris.

Unfortunately, size and age representation were not represented in transgender and non-binary views.

AGE

Age representation has been on a decline this season. Spring 2022 brought us over 50 35 model appearances, or 0.78 percent of the total castings. But there were only 23 percent, or 0.52 percent, of the total dumps for Fall 2022. That’s well below the Fall 2020 high of 44.

Paris made up the majority with the 15-year-old cast. There were four in New York, three in Milan, and only one in London (Elisabetta Dessy walks for Act N.1). The return of the ’90s supermodels was a big reason why Paris took the lead. Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Helena Christensen took part in Off-White’s Virgil Abloh tribute.

MOST AND LAST DIFFERENT SHOWS

While in-person shows have been dominant, cruise books for Fall 2022 still had an impact on diversity. As for the actual catwalk presentations, Victor Glemaud came out on top with 100 percent racial diversity. All 27 models walking the runway were color models. Bibhu Mohapatra also received 100 percent of the vote, all 17 of which were black women.

The least diverse list is where viewbooks and digital offerings come into play. Technically, Valentin Yudashkin topped this list with zero models out of nine colors. Then there was the Vivetta, which is zero out of three.

Preen by Thornton Bregazzi had a share of only 13 percent with 2 out of 15. Elisabetta Franchi and Daniela Gregis were down 3 at 18 percent at 10 and 17 at 56, respectively.

Fashion Month Fall 2022 has definitely had its ups and downs. We are happy to see racial diversity increasing, albeit at a slower pace than would be desired. The increases in size and gender were also great. Of course, we would also like these numbers to be higher. The decline in models above 50 is certainly a cause for concern. We don’t think it’s too much to want notable increases to exceed all categories. We can only hope we have better news for Spring 2023.

Additional reporting by Mark E.

Only female and non-binary models were included in these data. Color models are categorized as those with non-white or mixed backgrounds.