INSENSITIVITY,CAPITALIZATION & RAMPANT COLOURISM:HOW FASHION INDUSTRY KEEPS FAILING PEOPLE OF COLOUR

Fashion Industry’s love for hierarchies has never been subtle. Telling people what they should look like- what is acceptable and what isn’t. For decades, the industry hardly tolerated dark skin, fat bodies, wrinkles or any outward indication that a person wasn’t summoned from the recesses of a French executive’s brain and manifested directly onto the banquette at a SoHo restaurant. Any criticism, the industry basically shrugged off. Suddenly, the world roiled and soaring with protests against racism and colourism, Fashion Industry has had to contend with accusations that it long refused to dignify with a response.

Tales of toxicity in the Fashion Industry aren’t new. Discrimination, exploitation, hypocrisy and cultural appropriation run deep through the veins of the Fashion and Beauty Industries. They have long profited from capitalizing on social-political issues, and it is now time to face the truth about their internalized code of conduct and hold them accountable.

Neutrality was generally thought to be the safest stance in the industry when it came to social- political issues. Lately, however, many fashion brands have jumped on the inclusivity marketing bandwagon, mostly though only to better appeal to a new generation of consumers. The Fashion Industry has only failed its People of Colour by capitalizing on the current ‘trending’ topic while perpetuating racism, colourism and discrimination further in the industry.

Fashion and Beauty brands’ performative allyship to the cause is rather evident.

In 2017, Munroe Bergdorf, a Black Transgender model was fired from her role as one of the faces of the True Match make-up campaign at L’Oréal after she posted publicly on Facebook against the white supremacy on display during the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, VA, USA. She was left to defend against the trolls that threatened her life, with no aid or apology from the brand.

What made L’Oréal decide in 2020 that Black Lives were finally Worth It?

Conde Nast is under continued scrutiny for their internal behaviours towards its People of Colour employees, but there has always been plenty of insensitivity right there on the surface.

In April 2008, Lebron James was the first Black man to ever grace a Vogue cover, shot by Annie Leibovitz.

On dissecting the cover, the similarity to a 1917 American War propaganda poster ‘Destroy This Mad Brute’ is crushingly similar-the team HAD to know what they were doing. In the modern context, it embodies hugely problematic tropes comparing Black people to primates, something white supremacists have been doing for centuries to dehumanize them. Shoots like these glorify the white gaze of the blind.

In April 2019, in a celebration of global talent, the issue captioned “The new center, which is everywhere and nowhere at once.” Despite Vogue’s intentions, it was glaringly obvious that in this new centre, white women were still at its centre. Actresses of colour like Deepika Padukone and Adesua Etomi were pushed to the sides, serving more as props for the white actresses like Scarlett Johansson and Vanessa Kirby.

In the issue of November 2018, Kendall Jenner was spotted in a curly do. There is a fine line before things cross into cultural appropriation territory.

Not featuring a Black model in the shoot, after decades of being told by the society that their Afros do not qualify as beautiful, after chemically burning their hair to match the ‘whitewashed' notions of beauty in a racist society, acts like these only allows the Fashion Industry to capitalize of Black culture while not welcoming Black talent through its doors.

While the first Black model to appear on the cover of Vogue was Beverly Johnson in 1974, the first Black photographer, Tyler Mitchell came around in 2018, after 125 years of the Vogue, that too on the advocacy of Beyoncé, for her photoshoot. Subsequently, ever since, he has remained the sole Black photographer on team Vogue for its covers. Astounded yet?

Italian fashion brand Marni’s latest campaign “Jungle Mood” featured Black models in chains, faux tribal symbolism, and other imagery that heavily leaned on colonial and slave stereotypes.

In June this year, American apparel brand, GAP announced a 10-year deal with artist Kanye West’s fashion line Yeezy, GAP x YZY. A retailer with such a large scope partnering with a Black designer in a meaningful way sounds great, until you remember GAP already did that. GAP x Telfar global was announced back in January. Telfar Clemen’s unisex label has “It’s not for you -it’s for everyone” as a part of their brand bio and could pass for a slogan from GAP’s heyday. And then, the COVID-19 hit. Despite a worldwide sale of 16 Million Dollars in 2019, GAP cancelled their supplier orders for the summer including Telfar, whose contracts were pushed to 2021, a 25% of the design fees were paid as an advance and since then, follow up emails have been left unanswered. GAP’s image has historically been more inclusive than many mass retailers, but they seem to have trouble putting their money where their mouth is. Where, in fact, did they get their money for a Yeezy collaboration?

Accounts of such discrimination, racism, cultural appropriation and superficial allyship remain plenty.

Another equally important but much overlooked racist trend is Black-facing. It is, in essence, a fashion, rooted in the dark, arrogant insecurity of white supremacy, perpetuated by plain old unrepentant racists. Re-imagined, modernized and stylized, it evolves year after year, until each iteration is just a bit off from the previous one. Gucci’s black balaclava sweater with lips outlined in bright red and Prada’s Golliwog-like charm are examples of fashion-gone-wrong.

So often, people who are reprimanded for wearing black-face are emotionally disconnected from its history. Black-facing gets to the discomforting core of how Black people are seen by the broader culture. It exists only because people who indulge simply don’t see themselves as racists, rather allies to the issue. The Fashion Industry could benefit from a more nuanced understanding of the cultures in which they do business. It is time for the Fashion Industry to do more than just making statements and instead, commit to ‘doing the hard work’ it will take to combat colourism. It is important to make runways, magazine covers, boardrooms and creative studios a living representation of diversity. The silence was and still remains at the cost of admission to the Fashion Industry’s top echelons. It is time to stop disfranchising People of Colour for speaking up. It is time for equal representation, for equal pay. It is time to quit hypocrisy, to quit capitalizing on social-political issues, to create a talent pipeline for People of Colour. It is time to look beyond that one shade of nude which is normalized; accept & embrace the entire spectrum of colour and the cultural diversity that comes with it and DO IT RIGHT this time.

- Aditi Singh