'Why are our catwalks so white?'

A London teenager hailed as the next Naomi Campbell spoke out today about the lack of black models on the catwalk.

Jourdan Dunn, 17, who designers are clamouring to hire during London Fashion Week, says the runways should reflect the city's ethnic diversity.

She said: "London's not a white city so why should our catwalks be so white? I go to castings and see several black and Asian girls, then I get to the show and look around and there's just me and maybe one other coloured face.

"They just don't get picked. I hope it's because the designer just didn't think they were good enough as a model but I don't know."

Jourdan, who lives with her mother and two younger brothers in Greenford, west London, was spotted by agency Storm while trying on sunglasses in the Hammersmith Primark.

The current face of Gap, the 5ft 10in teenager was picked by Kate Moss to launch her Christmas Topshop collection last year and has appeared on New York catwalks and the pages of US Vogue.

But a fashion stylist for a top women's magazine said the industry was weighted against non-white models.

The woman, who said she would lose her job if she was named, said: "It's all about what sells clothes, and people aspire to be white, blonde and thin, so there we go. We're being naive if we say that's not racist."