As three male models stare off into the forested distance for the Dior Homme Fall/Winter 2012 Campaign, Karl Lagerfeld’s prolific lens capturing their every movement, they unsurprisingly looked amazing clad in Kris Van Assche’s sleek military-inspired vision for this coming fall. However the unprecedented casting of Daisuke Ueda, Hao Yun Xiang and Nan Fulong was what we found most remarkable. While we’re not sure if deliberate, Dior Homme’s newfound penchant for diversity certainly continues to reinforce the growing importance of global markets to the business of fashion.

With a growing middle class, Taiwan, and South Korea are just two of the newest and most desirable markets. While China seems to be emerging as the United States of the East, now having the third largest population of millionaires in the world. All of this left us wondering, is diversity for the sake of profit really progress? Or is it just a kind of affirmative action? We’d like to assume the optimistic stance and hope that the Dior Homme campaign is only the latest step forward towards representing a more representative conception of beauty in fashion advertising, rather than a predictable and transparent attempt to court the Asian consumer.

- James Lavapie