Comme des Garçons and Saint Laurent Were Among the Least Diverse Shows of Fashion Month

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The Fashion Spot released its Diversity Report on the Spring 2016 runway shows today, and the site's research tracks along the same lines with Business of Fashion's finding that 80% of models on the runway this season were white. BoF's stat was that 79.4% of models were white, and The Fashion Spot analyzed 373 shows and 9,926 model appearances in New York, London, Paris, and Milan to find that 77% of all models cast were white.

The Fashion Spot went further and noted the percentage of plus size models, transgender models, and models over age 50. The site also broke down the statistics to compare diversity between seasons and cities, with New York shows again taking the title as the most racially diverse. The most diverse show of the month happened at New York Fashion Week, with Chromat booking 14 models of color out of the 20 models who walked in the show.

Tracy Reese and Sophie Theallet tied for second place in terms of most racially diverse runways. At each of those shows, 60% of models booked were models of color. Last season, Theallet made The Fashion Week's list for least diverse runway shows after the brand only hired one model of color out of 19 models.

Who's on that "least diverse" list this time around? "Erdem, Nina Ricci, Roksanda, Giorgio Armani, and Saint Laurent all hired just two models of color," The Fashion Spot's Maria Denardo writes, noting that Valentino's show with mostly white models wearing cornrows stirred up controversy.

Meanwhile, brands like Orla Kiely, John Richmond, Uma Wang, Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe, David Laport, Undercover and Erin Fetherston chose to use only white models, or "an entirely white-washed lineup," as The Fashion Spot puts it.