If You Watch One Thing Today, Let It Be Naomi Campbell Talking About Diversity in Fashion

Campbell, who sat down with WSJ Deputy Editor Elisa Lipsky-Karasz, acknowledged that there has been more representation on the runway, but said the next step is having the same thing happen behind-the-scenes, too.

“You’ve seen all shapes, sizes, colors, different hair types on the runway — we're still in that," she said. "But now, it needs to go deeper than that. We need to see within the actual companies, in the offices, are you going to give the diverse staff a seat at the table to advise and be part of the projects that you do? Instead of when things arise — when there's a hiccup, when there's a mistake, when there's an accident — having to then build these advisory boards."

Gucci, the CFDA, and Valentino were all mentioned as brands who have these types of boards, and Campbell sits on a few of them herself. However, she made the important point that they wouldn't need to exist if more diversity was happening in-house.

Supermodel @NaomiCampbell talks with @WSJMag Deputy Editor Elisa Lipsky-Karasz at #WSJTechLive about expanding her influence beyond the runway https://t.co/Ss2mrDqvfa

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) October 23, 2019

"I don't want to say names of brands because I'm not going to call people out," the model added. "I have to believe that everybody is coming from a good place. We'll discover, as we go along — we will know who is doing it for the token and who is doing it for real."

Let's hope the fashion industry is paying attention.