Getting under fashion's skin

21 July 2016 - 10:47 By © The Daily Telegraph

The fashion industry has a diversity problem - 78.2% of models in the most recent spring/ summer international brand campaigns were white, 98.6% were under a size 12 and not one model of the 422 was transgender.There is, however, a wave of influential trailblazers who are becoming known as much for their modelling as their campaigns to widen representation in fashion.ASHLEY GRAHAMShe's had a meteoric rise this year, becoming the first plus-sized model on the cover of Sports Illustrated as well as the covers of Cosmopolitan and Maxim."I felt free once I realised I was never going to fit the narrow mould that society wanted me to fit in," Graham said. ''I was never going to be perfect enough for an industry that defines perfection from the outside in."WINNIE HARLOWDespite being diagnosed with vitiligo at the age of four, she has appeared on America's Next Top Model.Harlow has modelled for H&M, Diesel and more, and featured in Beyonce's visual album Lemonade.''There are a lot of people that would say my skin is what made my career," Harlow has said.''But my skin condition is not something new. For years people have said it's ugly, something that should hold you back. It's mainly hard work that gets you to where you want to be regardless of the boundaries that you're faced with."JILLIAN MERCADOShe's a model with muscular dystrophy cast in a campaign for Beyonce's merchandise earlier this year. Her images quickly went viral.  The model is serious about tackling the industry's diversity problem: "We're building this army of amazing individuals who are just tired of not seeing diversity in shows and campaigns, and think if no one else is going to do it, 'I might just do it myself'."MADELINE STUARTShe's the first professional adult model with Down Syndrome and made headlines last year when she walked in New York Fashion Week."I hope through modeling I can change society's view of people with disabilities, exposure to creating awareness, acceptance and inclusion," she wrote of her modelling on her website.DAPHNE SELFEShe's 88, and was named the ''world's oldest supermodel" in The Guinness Book of Records.  The model has been in the industry since 1949, but it wasn't until she was 70 that her career kicked off and she appeared in Vogue.ANDREJA PEJICShe underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2014 and then made her runway debut walking for Giles in February 2015.She made history with ground-breaking castings and campaigns, including being the first transgender female model to front a major cosmetics campaign...

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