The Fashion Industry’s Racist Reckoning is Finally Here

It’s incredible to watch how the Black Lives Matter movement has challenged fashion media and fashion brands alike to finally face their racist undercurrents. From departed top editors at Refinery29 (please read former R29 writer Khalea Underwood experience at the pub) to the “stepping back” of Leandra Medine, founder of the Millennial obsession that was the Man Repeller, to Conde Nast’s flood of racial discrimination accusations by former employees which dragged Anna Wintour in the mud and forced her to apologize for race-related “mistakes” at Vogue. It is crystal clear that the fashion industry has a long history of systematic racism that has finally floated to the surface.

Hey @Refinery29, cool blacked out homepage! But you know what real allyship looks like? Paying your Black employees fairly, having Black women in top leadership positions & addressing the microagressions your Black employees deal with from management on a daily basis.

— Ashley Alese Edwards (@AshleyAlese) June 2, 2020

And the buck doesn’t stop at media. Read the personal essay of Tiffany Reid, Bustle’s fashion director, who was blatantly discriminated against during Fashion Week in Paris solely because of the color of her skin, and weep. How about the accusation of racial profiling against Anthropologie where employees used a code to profile Black shoppers? And what about fashion giants like Gucci that have created racially inappropriate clothing for a long time, the most recent one in 2019 that resembled Blackface. Or Comme des Garçons who sent white models in cornrow wigs during the brand’s FW20 men’s show? And don’t even get me started on Dolce & Gabbana. And many of the Italian high fashion industry in general. Case in point:

 

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RACIST Fashion Brands To Stop Supporting:⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ 1. @dolcegabbana – Here are the owners Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana themselves attending a slave themed party “Disco Africa” where attendees dressed in Blackface and slave paraphernalia. In the middle of them is (@)alessandrodellacqua(he blocked me when I posted)in complete Black face so don’t support @numeroventuno either. (2013, 1st pic)⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ 2. @dsquared2 – Here are the twin owners Dean & Dan Caten at the same racist party dressed as African women with a slave. I’m the middle of them is lawyer @misterf27 in full Blackface and African garb. (2013, 2nd pic)⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ 3. @etro – Here we have carlomengucci at the same racist party dressed as an African Black woman and he does PR for @etro (2013, 3rd & 4th pic)⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ 4. @gqitalia @luomovogue – At the same racist party we have (@)puglieseluigi(he blocked me when I posted) who is the Advertising Manager for both of the fashion magazines mentioned dressed in Blackface as African track athletes. (2013, 5th pic)⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ 5. @voguemagazine – The host of the evening giampaolosgura who just so happens to be a photographer for @voguemagazine dressed in Blackface as an African warrior. (2013, 6th pic)⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ 6. @versace – The Blackface participant in the middle is @versace social media manager @fabiodistasio. (2013, 7th)⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ The rest are just pictures of attendees making a mockery out of Black people. Put your money elsewhere and support Black owned brands and/or Black shareholder brands such as @pyermoss , @telfarglobal , @hanifaofficial @fearofgod @brothervellies @laquan_smith @christopherjohnrogers @heronpreston @joefreshgoods @bricksandwood @martine_rose @fenty @omndi @thelondynkyle and so many more.⠀⠀ ⠀ Special thanks to @louispisano for bringing this to my attention. He attended the party and was objectified by these racist and called a “sexy n*gger”.⠀ ⠀⠀ #blacklivesmatter

A post shared by Free. (@enigmaticlone) on Jun 16, 2020 at 11:07am PDT

But the bottom line here is: Fashion has finally come to its racist reckoning and if you are a genuine supporter of the BIPOC communities of the world, you should stop supporting these racist fashion brands and publications. Instead, throw your money elsewhere. Like toward supporting these black-owned fashion brands for example. Or donating to BIPOC organizations. Or amplifying black voices of any industry. And voting.

It’s really that simple.