*Model to watch: Sudanese Mari Agory/ Photography: Phillip Ritchie
Fashionistas flocked to New York for the Fall collections shows and presentations of New York Fashion Week. This year proved to be another hit for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, which featured over 90 designers at the prestigious Lincoln Center and there was many other shows across the city like Harlem Fashion Row featuring designers of color. While some designers appeared to be more creative than others, you could not discuss the fashion minds' engagement with the event. As an integral part of showcasing their beautiful pieces in motion, onlookers couldn't help but admire the beauty and stillness of the models.
Models of color, whatever their ethnic background or lightness/darkness, were present during New York Fashion Week. They continued their blistering run of form during this special week by taking the stage by storm in small numbers. However, it's always sad to observe that across almost 4500 models hired during NYFW 17% were models of color and only 6% of them were black models. The debate has been running for a longtime and unfortunately the numbers show a permanent lack of representation of models of color. To cut a long story short: there's still a lot of work to do. That is why we decided to take some time off complaining about it and celebrate the models of color that worked NYFW. Browse our Top 10 Black Models who got the best exposure during New York Fashion Week below!
1 MARIA BORGES - Angola - 18 shows
*Maria Borges Portrait and Maria Borges for Custo Barcelona (source: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week)
2 GRACE MAHARY - Canada - 17 shows
*Grace Mahary Portrait and Grace Mahary for Suno (source: Reuters)
3 CORA EMMANUEL - Martinique - 13 shows
*Cora Emmanuel Portrait and Cora Emmanuel for Diane Von Furstenberg (source: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week)
4 JOURDAN DUNN - United Kingdom
*Jourdan Dunn Portrait and Jourdan Dunn for Trina Turk (source: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week)
5 MELODIE MONROSE - Martinique
*Melodie Monrose Portrait and Melodie Monrose for Badgley Mischka (source: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week)
6 LEOMIE ANDERSON - United Kingdom
*Leomie Anderson Portrait and Leomie Anderson for Kaufman Franco (source: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week)
7 MARIHENNY RIVERA PASIBLE - Dominican Republic
*Marihenny Rivera Pasible Portrait and for Nicole Miller (source: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week)
8 AJAK DENG - Sudan
*Ajak Deng Portrait and for Jeremy Scott (source: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week)
9 SHARAM DINIZ - Angola/Portugal
*Sharam Diniz Portrait and for Dennis Basso (source: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week)
10a GEORGIE BADDIEL - Burkina Faso
*Georgie Baddiel Portrait and for Brandon Sun (source: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week)
10b NYKHOR PAUL - Sudan
*Nykhor Paul Portrait and for Costello Tagilapietra (source: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week)
