This Is Why Black Designers Matter



The fashion industry has an ingrained problem with racism, ranging from the lack of black models on the runway, to the absence of black innovators reaching the top. In the past few years, critics and commentators have put a spotlight on the whitewashing of the industry, and representation has definitely improved – slowly but surely. To mark London Fashion Week, which kicked off on Friday, we’re taking a look at how much black designers and creatives are being recognised.

Fashion has long been an arena where black trendsetters have had to fight for their contributions to be acknowledged. One of the most famous instances of this is Dapper Dan, a black Harlem fashion designer in 1980s and 1990s whose pieces catered to the ‘hustlers and street people’ with heavy influences from Gucci and other fashion houses. These designers took lawsuits out against him, but it was most likely an aversion to the fact he was dressing poor black people in their logos; when Gucci then decided to dress a white model in a Dapper Dan-style piece in 2017, it became clear that black culture is only hot property when white designers say it is.

In the same vein of not giving black people credit where it’s due, cultural appropriation remains an issue too. Many trends born in black communities have been stigmatised as ‘ghetto’, only to appear later in runway shows being sold as haute couture. Only last month, for example, fashion house Comme des Garçons outrageously dressed white models in cane/cornrow wigs, and was forced to apologise. Likewise, Marc Jacobs’ SS17 show saw models walking with coloured wool dreadlocks and Valentino’s ‘African-inspired’ 2016 show featured barely any black models.

The extent to which the fashion industry capitalises on black culture is the reason why we need to be paying more attention to the black creatives producing their own work. Black British fashion designers aren’t short on talent: one of our partners, London-based designer Tihara Smith, launched her own label after graduating and her pieces are inspired by Black British culture and the Caribbean. Her graduate collection paid tribute to the Windrush generation and was acclaimed when it was shown at Graduate Fashion Week 2018.

London-based designer Tihara Smith

When it comes to representation in the fashion industry, Tihara’s take on it is that there needs to be more diverse faces in positions of influence. “If there were more decision-makers and brand owners in the fashion industry from different cultures and backgrounds, I think this would have a positive impact on the industry and would help the diversity in the industry to be more genuine and organic.” Embracing black creativity behind the scenes would hopefully curb the careless appropriation of cultural symbols, and also afford a spotlight to designers like Tihara who have their own stories and experiences to share.

As a student, Tihara received mentoring and workshop opportunities with a charity created to campaign for more diversity and representation in the fashion industry. The fact such an organisation exists is a positive sign that steps are being taken to encourage designers colour to aspire to reach the top.

But we’re not there yet: Laura-Jane Jeffers, founder of Asikara, says her designs saw her be put into a box after graduating. “Because of the African fashion designs I created and the bold standpoint I had in fashion as an individual I was not able to get interviews and I didn’t secure a job.” Laura-Jane, whose Leicester-based label fuses stunning African prints with contemporary British designs, was effectively being told to compromise on being herself, despite working in an industry that was all about expression.

Nevertheless, she says representation is improving in the industry as a whole, though there is still an oppressive fixation on ‘perfection’ that’s halting progress. “I have seen more black models, more curvy models, more disabled models and more models with natural hair. With that being said I still think there is a long way to go. The fashion industry always wants to portray perfection but the truth is Afros don’t go in perfect shapes, there’s not a perfect skin tone and most people aren’t a standard size. The more we celebrate our differences the better.”

Leicester-based label Asikara

The landscape is undoubtedly changing in this respect: Edward Enninful is now the editor of British Vogue and Adwoa Aboah was his inaugural cover. Black American fashion designer Virgil Abloh is the child of Ghanaian immigrants, and as artistic director of Louis Vuitton and founder of Off-White, models of colour have featured heavily in his shows. At his debut Paris Fashion Week for Louis Vuitton last year, the first 17 models to come out onto the runway were black.

Likewise, Rihanna hasn’t compromised on including black women in her vision for luxury clothing line Fenty. Her aesthetic and brand message take inspiration from 1960s photographer Kwame Braithwaite and his iconic shots of curvy, natural-haired African-American pageant models. It was these images that inspired the term ‘Black Is Beautiful’ and by reviving this legacy, Rihanna is helping to centre black representation in fashion.

Diversity makes economic sense to the fashion industry

Diversity is making headway but the most cynical will say it’s an economic pivot. Black people are more likely to give their money to brands with black faces in their marketing campaigns, and surprisingly so are white people. Not to mention, the rise of the ‘conscious consumer’ means that people now tend to buy into diversity and equality, literally. Therefore from a financial standpoint, big fashion names have everything to gain from finally acknowledging the entire breadth of the market.

As for black designers themselves, the fashion industry still has a long way to go for them to start getting the visibility and credit they deserve. But the support can start with us. Tihara says, “if the traditional media and established fashion brands don’t see what black people have to offer to the fashion industry, I think it’s great that we can see our own value and support each other.”


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