Agent: Black models hard to place

LONDON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Magazines and fashion designers in Britain are reluctant to use black models, a top model agent told a London newspaper.

Carole White, one of the founders of the Premier Agency, said in an interview with The Independent that she has a much harder time finding jobs for black clients.

"According to the magazines, black models don't sell," she said. "People don't tend to talk about it, but black models have to be so beautiful and perfect because we can't have a lot of diversity with black models; it's harder work for the agency because there's not so much on offer. White models can have more diversity."

White's comments came as London Fashion Week wound up. She said London designers are better than those in Paris and Milan.

"There if you offer a black girl they will drop the book like it's hot," she said, "it's such hard work for the bookers."

Naomi Campbell -- a former Premier client and one of the few blacks currently in the upper ranks of modeling -- suggested that the fashion industry in general is too white. She said the ranks of agents, managers and designers should be more diverse.