Clutch 2010 Model Roster
You’ve seen their faces on the runways of Paris or possibly noticed them in a center spread. If you haven’t, you will soon enough. These rising stars represent us; the multicultural woman, busting through the seams of a sometimes unchanging fashion industry.
Clutch takes a brief look at some of the women who are making fashion a bit lively – proving that diversity really is a beautiful thing.
1. Aminata Niaria – IMG
Nationality: Senegalese
Career Highlight: Strutted her stuff in the 2009 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
2. Gracie Carvalho – Marilyn Agency
Nationality: Brazilian
Career Highlight: Featured in two consecutive DKNY ad campaigns (F09 and SS10).
3. Jeneil Williams – New York Model Management
Nationality: Jamaican
Career Highlight: Vogue Italia’s “All Black” issue in 2008.
4. Joan Smalls – IMG
Nationality: Puerto Rican
Career Highlight: Equally successful in ad campaigns (six to date) as she is during fashion week.
5. Kinée Diouf – New York Model Management
Nationality: Senegalese
Career Highlight: Being the muse of Lanvin’s Creative Director, Alber Elbaz.
6. Lyndsey Scott – Click Agency
Nationality: American
Career Highlight: First black model used in the Calvin Klein Fall 2009 show – exclusively.
7. R’el Dade – Marilyn Agency
Nationality: American
Career Highlight: Exclusively booked for the 2009 Valentino Couture show.
8. Rose Cordero – Supreme Agency
Nationality: Dominican
Career Highlight: One of the cover girls for V magazine’s September 2009 issue.
9. Shu Pei – Next
Nationality: Chinese
Career Highlight: Walked in over 40 shows during the Spring/Summer 2010 collections.
10. Tao Okamoto – Supreme Agency
Nationality: Japanese
Career Highlight: Ralph Lauren Fall 2009 print campaign.
WILD CARD: Amber Rose– FORD Models
Nationality: Cape Verdean and Italian
Career Highlight: Spread in Elle’s October 2009 issue styled by Boyfriend Kanye West.
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We really could have left that last one out…
Lol that one caught me off guard too
Its great to see a new crop of models of color…I am excited for these ladies. But yea Amber rose should have been left out. Not throwing shade because great body and pretty face but I can hold her up to the list of ladies presented.
I think Amber Rose got dropped by Ford, you may wanna fact check that…
She’s still signed to Ford Dionne.
Also, I hope that people to harp on Amber being the wild card. She is one! And being her and how she came about and body type makes her one. Ladies don’t just start to focus on Amber cause this list is great and the other models deserve a comment not just spending energy and comments of your HATE for Amber Rose.
YES!!!!!!! for the black faces…..btw you all should check out my sister Damaris Lewis. She is dope and she is signed to Ellite
Thanks Love! We will! Thanks for letting us know! :)
Hey ladies,
Thanks for your comments.
When we look at the fashion industry and the models that have dominated the mainstream magazines we always see Jourdan, Sessilee, Chanel and Arlenis. I’ve loved fashion since I was able to read and for once, in my adult life, there’s a growing number of diverse models. This makes me smile.
This list was not intended to offend, but it was created to highlight the landmarks of diverse models who are breaking barriers on the catwalks. Let’s celebrate the fact that fashion is becoming a bit more diverse and these women play a role in that.
Amber Rose is a wild card because she is a model and signed to a reputable agency. She is voluptuous and uncommon and was featured in a fashion spread in Elle magazine. That in itself shouldn’t be overlooked – neither should the accomplishments of the other ten women listed.
She does bring forth a different body type so that is a positive…..
I beg to differ, Nicole. Amber wasn’t signed to Ford until well after she began dating Kanye. The addition of Amber to the list is disrespectful because unlike the other models who are making names for themselves based on their own zeitgest, Amber wasn’t booking solo editorials in Elle or VIBE until after Kanye West began toting her around. She was a stripper and a video girl taking booty shots for “Smooth.” The fashion world would not concern itself with Amber if not for Kanye, which isn’t the case for the other ladies on the list.
LOL Amber Rose was def a wild card. Till this day im in awe that she is 1/2 Cape Verdean… my roommate told me that even if a black woman has a child by a caucasian/non black person, the child will retain more of the mother’s features over the father’s… which is obviously not very true w Amber Rose, cuz you wld never guess she had some black in her! but you know, of course im not gonna believe EVERYTHING my roommate tells me… duh lol
um…how would you never guess? I’m assuming that you’re American, and that it in itself makes you a cultural wild card. so how would you be able to point to anyone and say ‘he or she is straight up black’ when you dont know what other ethnicities they have? i’m guessing you’re young but still…shouldnt you know by now that (black) people come from Everywhere! Cape Verdians can also be quite mixed already, so you dont know without looking at her mother or father, what the equation is.
Hello All,
Love the article and the diversity of such beautiful women. = ]
Cape Verdeans are a very mixed people, with African and Portuguese roots, so although they are African by territory, their culture is a product of ethnic fusion, and to discredit that by calling them Black people is invalid. The typical standards of race that we use to classify people in America can not be extended to every corner of the world. The sooner you realize that race is a social construct, the easier it will be to understand the role of culture, climate and genetics in shaping a people as varied as Cape Verdeans.
Anyway, nice lineup. I happen to like Ambie for some reason. Perhaps because she`s from my hometown.
Much love.
Cape Verdeans all look so much different from one another. From very light to dark complexions, from blue to green to brown eyes and various textures of hair. So, You never know.
Cape Verdeans are not “black”, yes it’s considered part of Africa but there is a huge ethnic mixture in the CV blood.
Amber Rose shouldn’t be on the list at all. All the other models are also very well known and are getting lots of work.
Tiffany amber is also well known i like all the girls chanel iman is doing her thing and i feel how someone got to their success is not what matters it what they do after they have obtained success that matters there are women in our lives who had to scrub other peoples floors to provide for themselves and their families and while its not stripping its also not the ideal career goal nobody has to like amber but respect is due for coming out of a situation on the upside whereas most people spend their lives trying to and never do.
Amber is not well known in terms of modeling yes she is well known to black people because she is dating Kanye West, but in the fashion world she is not a household name in terms of modeling. So if you consider walking in 1 outfit in 1 fashion show and doing a few spreads mainly in urban magazines not vogue, nor does she have any major campaigns under her belt. Then that’s your definition of well known . !
LOL at the wild card. That wasn’t nice.
Anyways……R’el is going to make Jourdan wish she never got pregnant. She is so up next people. A negro slot is open, and Miss Dallas is gunning for it. You saw how Gaultier did Jourdan, lol?
again she is just getting started and who cares what race of people notice her shes noticed but hey an opinion is an opinion and your in titled to yours
As far as I’m concerned, neither Amber or the non-Black models should be on this list.
PS, I don’t care if you call me a hater.
smh @ dianna
More excuses . . .
Like it or not, most of the top editors at the most widely read, taste-making fashion magazines, as well as the casting directors at the top shows, are white, so unfortunately, if Amber aspires to be relevant in high fashion, then it is important that she is “noticed” outside of the “urban” audience.
Anyway, Amber’s in her late 20′s, no? A little late to be getting started, wouldn’t you say? She’s (Amber) not exactly Lakshmi Menon or Yasmin Warsame, where even though they started late, they were booking campaigns and runway shows right and left for top designers during their first seasons out the gate. Unlike the other models listed, Amber’s entire career is based on whether or not she can continue to curry favor with her boyfriend. Let’s keep it 100, ok? She’s not some girl off the street that was discovered by Meisel, and if she were really that fierce and striking, then we would’ve known her name before she started dating Kanye.
@isolde
As the author said im not going to turn this forum into a why amber should or shouldn’t be on this list i get paid to practice law not to defend amber rose i think shes great and shes taking her relationship and spinning her own celebrity same thing Kimora did with Russell these women would be less than smart if they didn’t attack these opportunity head on like i said her age and race shouldn’t matter when will we get past the little things
Objection, counselor. Kimora isn’t Amber, not even close. That’s a pretty impertinent comparison considering that Kimora was a teenage, runway/print model/Channel Lagerfeld muse before she met Russell and a classic example of someone the high fashion world embraced before being linked to a wealthy and famous love interest, unlike Amber who’s seeking acknowledgement from the high fashion world because she’s linked to a wealthy and famous impresario; not to mention that Kimora was Russell’s wife, not his wife-y. This isn’t about whether or not Amber is “great,” as you say, this is about whether or not she deserves to be mentioned in the same league as models that are building careers without having to sleep with rap stars to get cast in shows and campaigns.
“like i said her age and race shouldn’t matter when will we get past the little things”
Cheesy straw-men . . .
Except Amber’s age and race aren’t interfering with her attempt at high fashion stardom. The fact that she’s too short for runway, really doesn’t have sample size proportions, and is only exceptional because of her beau have more to do with it than her age and race. Since when is there a dearth of white/whitish looking models in the industry, anyway? If anything, the fact that she can pass for white would be an asset, and yet no one in the high fashion world was checking for her . . . at all, before Kanye. Based on prior statements that Kanye has made about mixed race women, Amber’s light / almost white skin privilege has served her well in the rap game. When was the last time you saw a woman darker than Amber with the same haircut getting so much praise in the “urban” community? So, being black and damn near 30 while trying to launch a modeling career aren’t what’s holding Amber back. You need to go somewhere with that.
whatever works im not going to disrespect clutch and answer that your mind is very primitive good day
So, by that you mean, you have nothing else constructive to add?
not at all i can agree to disagree
LoL….to have Amber Rose among these ACTUAL models is just ridiculous.
I really do no get her appeal and it’s telling that the only contribution you have listed is her spread done by Kanye. If it weren’t for her relationship with Kanye West, would we even know or care who she is? Doubtful. Perhaps there is a reason for that.
Call it hateration if you want to, but she gets waaay too much credit for having accomplished very little.
@ Isolde…..your comments were right on point!