Soul-singer Erykah Badu has been named the face of Givenchy's spring 2014 campaign. The move is the French luxury brand's attempt to diversify an industry already heavily criticized for only casting white models in fashion shows and advertisements.
"I grew up in a family and I grew up in a culture, an education, that we are all the same," Riccardo Tisci, Givenchy's creative director told Style.com.
Tisci said Badu was a source of inspiration when he was designing the new 2014 collection.
"Erykah, she's an icon- come one!" he told Style. "What I want to do with my advertising campaign is spread the love. Already now it's been three seasons that I've been using people that express something- they are great artists, or beautiful women, or stylish women, or models that I really believe in. It's kind of a family portfolio."
Tisci's new collection is a fusion of traditional African and Japanese designs. Badu is a good fit because of her versatility and unique modification of African dress, the Daily Mail reported.
"She's one of the most stylish women I've met in my life," Tisci told Style. "She's got such a good sense of proportion, of colors."
With his decision, Tisci hopes that more fashion houses will front women from diverse ethnicities in their campaigns.
"It's 2013. Everybody's being so cool about Instagram, about Facebook, any media," Tisci said. "Everybody's being so open. At the end of the day, why are not so many black girls or Latin girls in shows? When you have an American president who is black!"
Tisci made sure his runways have been diverse in the past, promoting models like Joan Smalls, Maria Borges and Grace Mahary.
"People can be so avant-garde, so advanced but actually not, because people are still making differences between skin color," Tisci said.
