Fall 2022 Tory Burch model. Image: Imaxtree
Last season, New York Fashion Week was happy to report an overall increase in diversity. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Fall 2022. Unfortunately, New York Fashion Week Fall 2022 saw a (albeit small) dip in racial, age and gender diversity, and only a minimal increase in size inclusivity.
We examined 60 presentations this season and aggregated the results for all categories. Keep reading to find out what New York Fashion Week looks like in Fall 2022.
Race
Fall 2022 New York Fashion Week featured 54.9% color models. This is down from his 55.5% in Spring 2022. Spring 2021 holds the record of 57.1% for most models in color.
Even with the decline, Fall 2022 is the third most diverse season at New York Fashion Week since it began tracking in the Spring 2015 season.
top model
Shelley Shi walking at the Michael Kors Fall 2022 collection. Image: Imaxtree
Six of the top nine models at New York Fashion Week Fall 2022 were of color. Chinese-American model Sherry Shi made the most appearances with nine appearances overall. Venezuelan beauty America Gonzalez was just behind in eighth.
Brazilian beauties Barbara Valente and Reynara Negrin, Korean model Sola Choi, Nigerian-born Victoria Favor, American model Effie Steinberg, Dutch model Felice Nordhoff, and Swedish beauty Vilma Shaver. scored 7 points each.
As usual, size, age and gender diversity were not included in the top nine.
plus size
Brandon Maxwell Fall 2022 Paloma Elsesser. Image: Imaxtree
New York Fashion Week Fall 2022 featured 51 plus-size models, accounting for 5.09% of the total casting. That’s a slight increase from when Spring 2022 had 48 plus-size models, or just under 4% of his total casting. Still, that’s no more than the spring 2020 spring 2020 plus-size model’s record for most appearances, 68.
Of the aforementioned 51 appearances, 35 (nearly 69%) were for models of color. Paloma Elsesser was the most booked plus-size model at the six shows. Precious Lee entered at four o’clock.
Brand 11 Honore featured the most plus-sized models in 12 appearances. Christian Siriano and Altuzarra followed in eight and five appearances as plus-size models, respectively.
transgender/nonbinary
Dara Allen at Proenza Schouler Fall 2022. Image: Imaxtree
Gender diversity decreased slightly this season, with 24 transgender/non-binary models making up 2.39% of the total casting. Last season she was 30 and she was 2.40%. The previous record was 53 in the spring of 2019.
Of the 24 transgender/nonbinary models who appeared in Fall 2022, 9 belonged to models of color, who represented 37.5% of the total casting. Non-binary model Valentine Alvarez tied with transgender models Angel Prost and Magnus Maxine for three appearances each.
Transgender model Dara Allen made two appearances. Meanwhile, Aaron Phillippe, Moses Batiest, Anjali Rama and Martine Gutierrez each had one of hers.
The season’s most inclusive show was Gabriella Hearst, which featured a six-person transgender/nonbinary casting. Ekhaus Latta, The Bronze, and Corina Strada all made her three appearances as transgender/non-binary models, while Mariam Nasir Zadeh made her two appearances.
Year
Beverly Johnson at Bib Mohapatra Fall 2022. Image: Imaxtree
Fall 2022 New York Fashion Week saw only four castings of models over the age of 50, at 0.40%. This meager number is down from last season when models over 50 made 12 of her appearances and total model casting was 0.96% of him. Spring 2020 and Fall 2019 saw record highs of 15 each.
Of this season’s old castings, 3 out of 4 are white and Susan Chanchorro landed 2. Beverly Johnson was the only model of color to walk on the show this season.
Eckhaus Latta, Bibhu Mohapatra, Collina Strada and Maryam Nassir Zadeh each had one model over the age of 50.
The most diverse show and the most diverse show
Victor Gremaud Fall 2022. Image: Imaxtree
Five brands have reached the 100% diversity mark in Fall 2022. As for the bigger show, Victor Glemaud was the most impressive with his 27 of his 27 color models. Biboo Mohapatra followed, with 17 of his non-white models.
The other three brands, which were 100% diverse, had much smaller casts. PH5, Sally LaPointe and Simon Miller each reserved two of the two color models for their lookbooks.
At the opposite end of the diversity spectrum, we saw some familiar names on the list: Snow Xue Gao and Vivienne Hu had 0% diversity, cast 0 from the two non-Caucasian models. Adam Lippes, Derek Lam 10 Crosby and Zero + Maria Cornejo also had 0% diversity with zero non-white models in their lookbooks.
New York Fashion Week’s latest season is disappointing to see less racial diversity than last season. A recovery of diversity was seen.
New York has historically been the most diverse fashion capital, so I fear we’ll see recessions in London, Milan, and Paris as well. It’s been a season of diversity, so there’s still a slim chance that other fashion capitals will step up.)
Additional reporting by Mark E
This data includes only female and non-binary models. Models of color are classified as models of non-white or mixed backgrounds.