A casting category the industry uses for appearance outside the European type: Asian, African, Latin American features, mixed heritage.
Where the word came from
From briefs. A brand wants a campaign that speaks to a particular audience, and the category appeared as a working tool for finding people. The term is imprecise and is gradually leaving professional language — briefs increasingly name a region or a specific look instead.
What has changed
Demand has grown, and at large agencies these models stopped being a separate shelf long ago. The road was built by the people who went first: Naomi Campbell, who pushed for more than one Black model per show, and Liu Wen, after whom Asian faces in global fashion stopped being an occasional gesture.
The practical part
Makeup and lighting for different skin tones take skill a team may not have. Ask in advance who the makeup artist is and whether they have worked with your tone, and bring your own base — the right shade may simply not be on set, and this is still a common story.
On lighting for different skin — «Makeup for Camera: What Survives Flash and 4K».
Hair is its own conversation
A stylist on set may not know how to work with textured or curly hair: it remains a gap in training. Ask beforehand, and bring your own products and comb — an hour lost to styling is not paid for by them.
Examples
Liya Kebede, Lakshmi Menon, Charo Ronquillo, Liu Wen, Iman.
