Australia's best known indigenous model has joined Naomi Campbell and Iman in calling for more diversity in the fashion industry.
Samantha Harris, who has established a successful career after being discovered at the age of 13 when she was a finalist in the Girlfriend magazine model competition, says Australia's diversityisn't reflected on the runway.
"I would love to see more diversity on the catwalks and in campaigns because Australia itself is such a multicultural country, why don't we celebrate that," the 23-year-old said.
Harris was speaking at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern for the launch of the first search for an indigenous model.
The search will coincide with the inaugural Australian Indigenous Fashion Week (AIFW) to take place in April 2014.
The model has appeared a on the cover of Vogue magazine and done numerous fashion campaigns, including working as a young women's fashion ambassador for David Jones.
Her call for greater diversity comes after Campbell and Iman called for an end to runway racism at London Fashion Week in September, pointing the finger at designers including Victoria Beckham, Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein for booking predominantly white models.
Aussie clothing label Country Road came under fire recently when complaints about a lack of diversity in a recent campaign were posted on its Facebook page.
Harris said she didn't agree that Country Road campaigns lacked diversity or that racism was a fact in the sorts of models chosen for campaigns.
"There are fashion parades where designers only want certain looking girls. Maybe they don't want multicultural girls, maybe they only want European looking girls.
"It's just the look that they're going for. Then there'll be another designer that will want your look in the show," she said.
But she said there was definitely a need for more indigenous models.
