Prada have cast a black
model for their fall/winter 13 campaign for the first time since 1994. Malaika
Firth, a Kenyan-born, U.K.-raised model, is one of seven in the new ad
campaign, starring alongside the likes of industry heavyweight Christy
Turlington and Chinese model Fei Fei Sun. Prada rarely hires Asian and
black models so the 19-year-old's inclusion in the campaign is something of a
milestone. Malaika, who has been modelling since 2011, is the first black face
of Prada since Naomi Campbell in 1994. Between Campbell's runway appearance in
1993, and 2008, when Jourdan Dunn took to the catwalk, Prada had no black
models in any of its women's runway shows.
The Twittersphere seem
extremely excited about the big news.
One user wrote: 'What took
so long? “@GlobalGrindStyl: Prada breaks two decade hiatus by casting a black
model in ad campaign.' Another added: 'Prada wakes up, casts black model for
first time in 19 years.' Jenna Sauers, a writer from Jezebel.com,
wrote: 'As we've documented repeatedly on this website, the fashion
industry as a whole has a number of problems with race - whether it's the
under-representation of models of color on the world's biggest runways, or the
spate of ignorant but widely copied trends, like blackface references in
editorials. 'Perhaps no single brand has embodied near-total whiteness
more than Prada. What made the company finally hire a black model for its
seasonal ad campaign? Prada isn't saying. Let's hope it won't be 19 years before
we see another.'
few pics after the cut..........................
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