This Year Was the Most Diverse for Magazine Covers Ever

Efforts to diversify the fashion industry have seen mostly bleak outcomes, but fortunately 2016 has turned out to be the most diverse yet. Although runway diversity is still lagging behind, there’s been a vast improvement on magazine covers compared years prior.
In terms of race, 197 covers out of the 679 total featured models of color. That’s 29 percent, and while it’s still low, it’s a 6.2 point increase from 2015. Impressively half of Paper magazine’s covers belonged to women of color, with Vogue Taiwan and Vogue India being the leaders in racial inclusion. But Harper’s Bazaar U.S., Porter, British Vogue and LOVE are among the glossies whose models were exclusively white.
Despite those improvements, body, age and gender diversity still have a ways to go. 0.9 percent of covers featured women size 12 and above. Only five percent of appearances belonged to women over the age of 50. And 0.7 percent of bookings belonged to transgender women — four of the five total were of Hari Nef.
When it comes to the faces themselves, the “it-models” were underwhelmingly not diverse. Gigi Hadid tops the list with 14 covers, with Kendall Jenner right behind her earning 10. Bella Hadid, Alicia Vikander, Edie Campbell, Lara Stone, Rianne van Rompaey, Frederikke Sofie and Irina Shayk follow, with Lupita Nyong’o rounding out the top 10.
Hopefully things will only continue to improve — in all areas — in 2017. Read the full diversity report by The Fashion Spot in the meantime.