Dior and Galliano: Is this real justice?

Earlier this morning, John Galliano was fired from his head designer position at Christian Dior due to his anti-Semitic remarks he had made earlier last week. While I certainly enjoyed Galliano's work and have featured his works for Christian Dior extensively on this blog, the video of his verbal assault toward two Jewish restaurant patrons is undeniably racist and inexcusable. Some are claiming that because it is obvious Galliano is intoxicated during his tirade that he truly could not have meant those remarks. Personally, I've never known anyone to claim that they "love Hitler" or told people that they wished their ancestors had been murdered simply because they were intoxicated. These may have been instinsic thoughts Galliano kept mostly to himself, but there is no denying the vitriol and prejudice that came with his comments. Natalie Portman, the new face of Miss Dior Cherie, wisely decided not to wear Dior to the Oscars and substituted her dress with one from Rodarte to show her stance against these statements. I also applaud Christian Dior for swiftly acting on this issue and suspending and now firing Galliano. Undeniably this was to protect the business prospects of Dior, but I also think it makes a strong statement about how inexcusable his behavior is. However, I also wonder if this incident had not been thoroughly documented or the racism not as explicit would Dior have taken any action at all.

This leads me to my bigger point of how the fashion industry only seems to call out the most blatant forms of racism (or any other type of prejudice) when it could compromise business. While other designers certainly have not made comments as blatant as Galliano's, isn't rarely casting models of color still prejudiced? Similarly, why is it still a rarity that a model of color gets featured on the cover of major fashion magazines regardless of the nation of origin of the publication? Considering that out of the 1,400+ issues of Vogue that have been published, only 14 of them have featured black women it's pretty hard to deny that a bias exists. I have similar concerns about how it only a handful of members of the fashion community have called out Terry Richardson for his blatant sexism and inappropriate behavior toward some of the models he's worked with. Simply because Galliano's prejudice is very blatant and explicit doesn't mean that it's the only place in the industry where discrimination is apparent.

This also is not to say I'm completely blameless myself. I've supported a lot of magazines and designers through what I purchase even with the knowledge that these companies are biased in one way or another. The existence of this blog has also reinforced a certain beauty standard that isn't exactly the most inclusive, among other things I'm sure I haven't reflected enough upon to realize they are biased. I'm still left wondering when the fashion industry is going to be more willing to address its pervasive inequalities or will only the most blatant examples of racism and prejudice be reprimanded.

Any thoughts and reactions about this topic are more than welcome.