Caryn Franklin and Erin O'Connor lead All Walks debate on diversity in the fashion image

Behind the scenes of Rankin's All Walks shoot (c) Rankin 2010

All Walks, which celebrates diversity and beauty in body shape and size, and aims to get the fashion industry doing likewise, hosted Snapped, a thrumming evening of hot debate, and exclusive Rankin preview, i-D straight-up-style photobooth and an inspired art trail tonight, part of the National Portrait Gallery ‘Late Shift’ series.  Hosted by the organisation’s founders Caryn Franklin, Debra Bourne and Erin O’Connor, the event crucially (and somewhat unusually) saw fashion cognoscenti rub shoulders with the great unwashed – queue outcry from style blogger Osman Ahmed , I think ironically, right Osman?! - creating a buzzing, engaged and real picture of what a fashion scene should be. 

The evening included a first look at an exclusive series of spring/summer 2011 looks shot by uber-snapper Rankin. Models representing ages 18-80, and a range of body shapes, sizes and ethnicities, sport British designers, including Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney, Mathew Williamson, Giles Deacon, Osman Yousefzada, with the results peppered throughout the NPG, as part of a body-inspired art trail through the galleries. Guests at the event – which was heavily over-subscribed – also had the opportunity to get up in their finest and get snapped by up-and-coming portrait photographer Alistair Guy, who works with Wonderland, Style.com and Vogue, among others.

Caryn Franklin (who, I will unashamedly admit, is a hero of mine), made her fashion bow at 1980s cult style bible i-D, before going mainstream on The Clothes Show, and is refreshingly vocal in critique-ing the fashion industry and its narrow perspective on body shape. As a child of the 80s, when she was setting her stall out, I able to look up to wonderfully normal-looking idols, by today’s standards, anyway. Don’t get me wrong, they were still unattainable beauties but much closer to reality, in a way that Mad Men-esque hotties – in a world were women are getting bigger and their waists, thicker – just aren’t.

Last night, at the Yours Clothing SS11 launch I met fashion blogger Lauren Ding, of the sparkily-monikered Pocket Rocket blog, who mainly (but not exclusively) covers plus-size fashion that she loves to wear, and we got chatting about the new Yours press campaign, which I directed (sorry, just love to show off). While we both agreed on the gorgeousness of size 14 model Cressida, she did voice concerns that she and other larger women do want to see more positive fashion images of women who come closer to their body shape and size. We both agreed that all women have to contend with – whatever we do in reality, our model on a pedestal is likely to be unrealistic – and that, while there is no ‘normal’, we would like to see a wider range of models.

The issue of diversity also applies to skin colour; you may remember my post on Jourdan Dunn’s Burberry campaign, which leapt out of the page – firstly because she and Sacha M’Baye are stunning, but also because they were two of only a clutch of non-white faces in all the advertising of Vogue UK’s March issue. All Walks reminds me that I need to put my name to Change’s campaign to ask ELLE to apologise for whitening the skin of Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on the cover of ELLE India January 2011 – as well as actress Gabourey Sidibeon on the October 2010 cover of ELLE US – and make a commitment to moving away from ‘white’ as their standard of beauty. This is a strongly-worded statement, but it was interesting to see Lorraine Candy of ELLE UK left All Works tweeting that she had ‘ more thinking to do at ELLE’ following tonight’s debate.

Picking up the reins from organisations such as the BFC – which ran a Model Inquiry three years ago – and BEAT, Caryn Franklin has been actively seeking the public backing of all the major fashion editors, asking each for a  manifesto on diversity in their use of models, as well as their position on retouching images. Unsurprisingly, while twitter has been abuzz, and there will no doubt be plenty of press coverage of All Walks in the ensuing days, there is currently no common manifesto on any of these points, and diversity largely remains a token gesture in mainstream fashion and beauty press. But with an increasingly diverse population – in terms of race, colour and body shape and size – the realisation that all people increasingly expect to engage with, and exert power over, brands, and the if the industry can be truly reflective, I am sure it is just a matter of time before Caryn, Erin et al extract desired results – a more diverse, real and still uber-glamourous fashion world we can all engage with.
Every fashionista’s favourite portrait snapper Alistair Guy captures All Walks’ models.
Also on Alistair’s agenda…queue for the iD Magazine All Walks shoot at the  National Portrait Gallery.

The All Walks shoot by Rankin can be viewed at the National Portrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London, W1.

London College of Fashion is producing a film of the event; details tba.