Prabal Gurung's Advisers Didn't Want Joan Smalls in His Ad Campaign

Fashion designer Prabal Gurung discussed his experience with race in the fashion world during a panel hosted by the CFDA, saying his advisers tried to stop him from featuring Latina Joan Smalls as the face of his brand. "I fought for her and I got her a two- or three-year campaign deal and everything. And I will fight for [diversity] that way," he said. Gurung also recounted another incident, when Ethiopian model Liya Kebede was almost pulled from a runway show by investors who didn't think she was the right fit for the brand. "We'd done a casting, we'd done everything, and the suits came in there and looked at, believe it or not, looked at Liya, of all people — I mean, the most gorgeous woman in the world — and were like, 'Why is she end[ing] the show?' I'm not even kidding. It happens."

During the panel, designers and fashion experts discussed how to get the industry to accept diversity. Elle's fashion director Samira Nasr had powerful and lasting words, saying, "This is the most colorful room I've ever been in in the fashion industry. If we want to start this conversation and move it forward into concrete change, we need to grow this room. We need more designers of color; we need more casting people of color; we need more stylists. And so we have to foster and cultivate and inspire the new generation and help them come up, because that is how we are going to bring about change."