Paris (AFP)

British supermodel Naomi Campbell, committed against discrimination, on Monday called on the fashion industry to "impose inclusion" in fashion shows, in a video released at the opening of Virtual Fashion Week in Paris.

"The time has come to build a fairer industry," said the star, dressed in a T-shirt with the legend "Phenomenally Black", calling on fashion to learn from the Black anti-racist movement. Lives Matter.

"The debate is launched and it will last as long as it takes. It is up to us to start to impose the inclusion of the multiple identities that make up our countries," she added. "More than ever it is imperative to include them permanently".

"The fight for equality and diversity has been a long fight in society and in the fashion industry," she said in the video made for the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion.

"The time has come to collectively call on the fashion world to address the issue of inequality," she said, citing former South African leader Nelson Mandela, whom she has met several times.

"He said that a vision without action is just a dream, but that by combining vision and action you can change the world," she said.

Naomi Campbell, 50, has never made a secret of the discrimination she suffered on the catwalks, where she was the only black supermodel in the 90s.

"I may be considered a top model, in any case I earn as much as the others," she said at the time. She had to wait until 1999 to sign her first contract with a cosmetic company.

In an interview with the Guardian, which remained famous, she deplored that "the blondes with blue eyes are what sells best".

In Paris fashion shows, there are few black fashion designers.

This did not stop American Virgil Abloh, artistic director at Louis Vuitton and founder of the brand Off-White, from becoming one of the most prominent creators.

Frenchman Olivier Rousteing became the first black artistic director to manage a large Parisian house at Balmain in 2011 at the age of 25. Since then, it has placed diversity at the heart of the brand's strategy.

African artistic directors are in the process of breaking through, including the Cameroonian Imane Ayissi - former model and dancer - whose haute-couture parade is scheduled for Tuesday.

Campbell came to a fashion show in Paris in February to cheer on young Nigerian Kenneth Ize, who was making his debut at age 29. He called her "his good fairy".

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