Report by Caryn Franklin, photography by alistair guy
Britain’s big hitters, support the diversity ticket!
A sunny Saturday morning and Rankin, on the terrace shooting live, is flanked by a stylishly dressed crowd of onlookers. Not any old crowd, not any old fashion story. It’s the latest campaign from All Walks Beyond the Catwalk.
“We wanted to create a top end designer grouping featuring the full spectrum of beauty,” says Debra Bourne co-founder. “We understand how influential fashion imagery is and we want to make a realistic portrait of fashion for the women who buy it.” Erin O’Connor, co-founder, explains, “This time we went for big names who all thought that this was a fun idea they wanted to support.”
With all nine showing a preview of their Spring/Summer 2011 collections on models ranging in shape and colour, the line-up is impressive: Chalayan, Giles, McCartney and Westwood, to name a few. It’s testament to an industry assessing it’s own output.
“The subject of diversity within the fashion world is something we must firmly address,” agrees Lorraine Candy Editor In Chief ELLE. “It is about changing attitudes not just in fashion but across the whole media and entertainment industry. It is about us accepting, as providers of imagery/information and consumers of it, a wider view of what and who women are.”
Not content with London Fashion Week eventing, All Walks staged a summit at Graduate Fashion Week earlier in June. Some colleges have since agreed to make changes in the curriculum. Small steps, but all in the right direction!
Caryn Franklin is co founder All Walks
