In the News: Issue 09, September 3, 2021
Twice a month, we bring you a curated news report that addresses some of the most critical and timely headlines as it relates to fashion and race.
NOTE: This is an abridged version of our full “In the News” issue. To read the full stories and view all of the images, continue on at our website.
In Issue 09 of In the News, we examine Dolce & Gabbana’s problematic lack of accountability, consider the challenges that continue to face emerging Black designers, explore the controversy around Tiffany & Co.’s recent campaign, and review the status of the Bangladesh Accord.
– Anu Lingala, Contributor, “In the News”
Dress Politics
Last weekend, Dolce & Gabbana hosted their latest Alta Moda fashion show in Venice, featuring a star-studded audience that included Jennifer Lopez, Normani, Jennifer Hudson, Ciara, and Sean Combs, whose daughters walked in the event. While mainstream publications like Vogue lauded the extravagant show, a much more critical perspective emerged via social media. Many influential Black fashion industry leaders utilized their platforms to remind followers that the brand had been canceled – many times over. The repeated and irrefutably racist and homophobic actions of founders Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have been widely covered in the media: engaging in blackface (2013), opposing gay marriage (2015), selling ‘slave’ sandals (2016), and aggressively mocking Chinese culture (2018). As designer Christopher John Rogers tweeted soon after the show, “I thought we collectively agreed that D*lce & G*bbana was over…”
Further Reading:
Consider the intersections of fashion and social justice with this podcast episode on Fashion Activism.
Read the full story and find the other headlines within “Dress Politics” that are on our radar.
Business & Retail
When it comes to the industry’s progress in advocating for Black designers and Black-owned brands, the outlook seems similarly precarious. In a Business of Fashion piece on, “The Road Ahead for Black Designers,” Sheena Butler-Young speaks to several founders about how the spike in demand over the last year has actually impacted their businesses: “For many Black entrepreneurs, all of that support has amounted to everything, and on some days, not much at all.” A follow up piece explored in more depth why some of these entrepreneurs feel “uneasy about fashion’s diversity initiatives.” One issue that comes up often is the reality of inequitable partnerships, wherein a large brand approaches an emerging designer for a collaboration but demands significant oversight or claims some level of ownership over the creative output. This approach continues to strip Black designers of agency and equity in the creative process.
Further Reading:
Read about the historic connections (and inevitable clashes) between fashion, race, and class.
Listen to this podcast exploring how fashion brands need to rethink their approaches to diversity initiatives.
Learn more about systemic racism within the fashion industry in this BoF podcast episode.
Read the full story and find the other headlines within “Business & Retail” that are on our radar.
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Design & Imagemaking
Last week, Tiffany released the first images from its new ‘About Love’ campaign, featuring Jay-Z and Beyonce posing in front of a Jean-Michael Basquiat painting. Almost immediately, the internet erupted in discussion, with many people on Twitter debating whether the ad was an appropriate use of Basquiat’s legacy.
Diet Prada responded to the controversy by pointing out that, although “the Internet seems divided on the new Beyoncè and Jay-Z campaign,” a quick survey clearly shows that “Basquiat’s estate has already sold him out plenty of times for everything from t-shirts to an Alice and Olivia collection, Urban Decay cosmetics… and a Barbie.”
Further Reading:
Take a deep dive into the discourses around Blackness and luxury fashion with our reading list.
Consider the long history of the commodification of Blackness with this article on the Afro in the 60s and 70s.
Read the full story and find the other headlines within “Design & Imagemaking” that are on our radar.
Labor Issues
After numerous postponements and tense conversations, brands and trade unions agreed to a two year extension of the Bangladesh Accord mere days before its expiration. The Accord was a landmark contract drawn in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza factory disaster of 2013, and has helped significantly in efforts to ensure safe and healthy working conditions for garment workers in Bangladesh.
Further Reading:
Gain more insight into the ongoing labor issues in Bangladesh covered in Issue 07 of In the News.
Read the full story and find the other headlines within “Sustainability & Labor Issues” that are on our radar.
In the News is researched and written by Anu Lingala and edited by Anthony Palliparambil, Jr. and Kimberly Jenkins. This newsletter is published by Daniela Hernandez.
Anu Lingala is a trend forecaster, brand strategist, and founder of Revisionary: a space dedicated to reframing our aesthetic vision and decolonizing our aspirations by centering BIPOC-owned brands. She also helped launch Public Service: a platform and creative studio working to advance equity in imagemaking. Anu has always been passionate about applying sociocultural and historical analysis to contemporary industry contexts. She holds a BS in Apparel Design from Cornell University and an MA in History of Design from the Royal College of Art, where her dissertation examined cultural appropriation in fashion.