*As the fashion world turns its attention to Paris this week, the severe lack of black models on the runway has again become a frustration among top designers.
"I asked the modeling agency for black girls for our next show but there simply aren't any," said Mario Lefranc, half of the Lefranc-Ferrant designer duo, one of about 40 labels presenting couture collections in Paris for Fashion Week – held through Thursday.
"I'm sick of blonde Russian girls," he told AFP. "Clearly the trend now is all for blue-eyed blondes."
According to AFP, fans attending couture shows for Fashion Week "will be treated yet again to a 'white-out' on the catwalks." With the death of French designer Yves Saint Laurent – one of the few who insisted on models of every hue – it appears the issue will only get worse.
Jean-Paul Gaultier, another designer known for using models of all ages, sizes, and origins, is also frustrated by the lack of available black faces. A rep for the designer told AFP: "It's really very difficult at the moment. There are no black models on the market, the agencies have none."
In the last few years, she added, "there's been an invasion of girls from Eastern Europe, of their type of beauty."
As previously reported, Italian Vogue's July issue will deal with the problem by featuring black models only. According to AFP, presidential candidate Barack Obama's popularity in France and around the world prompted Italian Vogue editor Franca Sozzani to make the statement against discrimination in the forthcoming issue.