Model says she was pressured to wear ‘racist’ accessories in runway show

The Fashion Institute of Technology is under fire after a model announced that during a runway show showcasing recent MFA graduates work she was asked to wear large prosthetic lips, oversized ears, and bushy eyebrows.

The showcase in question was a collection by Junkai Huang, a student from China, which sought to highlight the “ugly features of the body.”

Model Amy Lefevre spoke to the New York Post about the fashion show and said, “I stood there almost ready to break down, telling the staff that I felt incredibly uncomfortable with having to wear these pieces and that they were clearly racist.”

The model claimed she was then told by the show’s producer, Richard Thornn, that it was “fine to feel uncomfortable for only 45 seconds.”

“I was literally shaking. I could not control my emotions. My whole body was shaking. I have never felt like that in my life,” she said. “People of color are struggling too much in 2020 for the promoters not to have vetted and cleared accessories for the shows.”

Lefevre has been modeling for four years and has walked in more than 20 shows.

Since Lefevre came forward, FIT has released a statement apologizing.

FIT’s President Dr. Joyce F. Brown wrote, “As we understand it, some of the students and models involved in the show were offended by the accessories — large prosthetic ears and lips and bushy eyebrows — used to style one particular collection... Currently it does not appear that the original intent of the design, the use of accessories or the creative direction of the show was to make a statement about race; however, it is now glaringly obvious that has been the outcome. For that, we apologize — to those who participated in the show, to students, and to anybody who has been offended by what they saw.”