The Fenty Effect
BY CHARLOTTE GONG
From high fashion runways, to the pages of glossy magazines, white women have always dominated the fashion industry. While major magazine covers have slowly begun to include more women of color, and models like Naomi Campbell, Iman, Duckie Thot and Winnie Harlow have added diversity to the runway, change in the world of high fashion can feel frustratingly slow.
With that being said, diverse representation at New York Fashion Week has improved significantly in recent years. In a study by Elon University, the number of black models increased by 11.6 percent between 2013 and 2018. Latinx models increased by five percent during the same period.
These changes are apparent in other realms of high fashion, too. Between 2012 and 2016, Vogue covers featured 23.6 percent non-white subjects. In comparison, between 2017 and 2018, 43.5 percent of these covers centered people of color. A similar evolution has happened across other magazines, including Vanity Fair, GQ, Glamour, Elle and Marie Claire. Yet for years, these changes have seemed superficial. Could more significant transformation finally be underway?
Something’s clearly happening in the makeup world. Certain brands, including Kim Kardashian West’s line—KKW Beauty—have come under fire for lack of effort in the creation of an inclusive shade range. Then along came Fenty Beauty, headed by music and fashion icon Rihanna. Fenty responds in a fresh, innovative way to the historic bias of cosmetic lines towards white women. Rihanna released her line with a foundation that included a wide shade range, and the results have been incredible: $100 million in sales in its first 40 days on the market.
According to Forbes, Fenty Beauty generated $570 million in sales in 2018 alone. The wider shade range has been dubbed “The Fenty Effect,” as other brands have jumped on board to make their own brands more inclusive. According to Women’s Wear Daily, the customer base for Fenty is mostly comprised of black women, followed by significant numbers of both Latinx and Asian customers. White women, on the other hand, make up the smallest group in Fenty’s base. Finally—a company that doesn’t just use women of color to advertise, but that actually caters to a non-white customer base.
As a result, the brand was named a Top 50 Genius company by Time Magazine for 2018. And although Rihanna was not the first person to target women of color in the cosmetics industry, Fenty Beauty taken off, evolving into a super moment through social media excitement.
Racial diversity in fashion has long felt like tokenism: people of color are used as a marketing tool, but nothing in the underlying power structure changes. Now, many women of color are turning things upside down and defining the rules themselves. In an interview with The New York Times Style Magazine, Rihanna explained how she was taking the challenges head on: “You’re going to be black wherever you go. And I don’t know if it’s unfortunate or fortunate, because I love being black. So, sorry for those who don’t like it — that’s the first thing you see before you even hear my voice. Those factors do come into play, but I will not apologize for them, and I will not back down from being a woman, from being black, from having an opinion. I’m running a company and that’s exactly what I came here to do.”
The mainstream fashion and beauty industries have failed women of color for too long. The tide has started to turn, but the work is far from done. Magazine leadership needs to include women of color, makeup artists need to be trained to work with darker complexions, and products need to be designed for a wider range of people. Some brands are capitalizing on this “wave” of inclusivity in their advertising because it is a trend; they are often motivated by profit and a desire to be cutting edge. Lasting change, however, will require a new definition of beauty standards, away from historically accepted norms.
It won’t happen overnight, but lines like Fenty provide a glimpse of what a more inclusive, innovative fashion world would look like. After all, the fashion and beauty industries are a mirror, reflecting the historical and systematic racism that has defined every part of our society. Maybe it’s time for us to take a more critical look, and demand that our most beloved brands live up to the future.