Black is the new white at Rio's Fashion Week

Credit: Pilar Olivares/Reuters

Brazil is one of the world's most racially diverse countries. More blacks live in Brazil than in practically any other other nation outside of Africa.

But you wouldn't know it from looking at the nation's catwalk.

Last week, all but two of the models in a São Paulo fashion show 'dedicated to Africa' were white. And this isn't the first time models of color were grossly underrepresented in the fashion industry.

Now, some are saying enough is enough.

For decades, diversity advocates have tried to bring attention to the almost total lack of non-white models in the fashion industry. Now, with the help of Rio de Janeiro's Public Attorney, the NGO Educafro has reached an agreement with Rio Fashion Week organizers to establish a quota for black, Afro Brazilian and indigenous Brazilian models. At least 10 percent of models will now come from those non-white groups.

A similar agreement was reached with Sao Paulo Fashion Week organizers in 2005.

Julia Dias Carneiro, a BBC correspondent based in Rio, says Educafro organizers still feel the percentage is too low, considering the majority of Brazil's population is non-white, but agree it's 'better than nothing.'

And they're not stopping with the progress they've made.

Carneiro says the group' is part of a larger movement to raise awareness of racial discrimination across Brazil. Recently, national universities hve begun implementing quotas for black students, and President Dilma Rousseff opened a conference on racial equality in Brasilia this week. Rousseff hopes lawmakers will pass a law reserving 20 percent of government jobs for people of African descent.