Milan Fashion Week hears calls for more designer diversity

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September 21, 2022

By Colleen Barry, Associated Press

Designer Stella Jean accepts applause at the end of her womens Spring/Summer 2018/19 fashion collection, presented in Milan. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

The Milan Fashion Week that opens Wednesday is showcasing collections by perhaps its most ethnically diverse lineup of designers, including the debuts of the new creative directors of Salvatore Ferragamo and Bally and the return of Haitian-Italian designer Stella Jean after a two-year hiatus.

But Jean and other industry insiders behind a campaign to open the Italian fashion world to talent from minority backgrounds say true inclusivity remains elusive.

Jean, who debuted in Milan in 2013, pledged on the heels of Black Lives Matter protests not to return to Milan Fashion Week as long as she remained the only Black designer represented. This week, she won’t be.

Maximilian Davis, a 27-year-old British fashion designer with Afro-Caribbean roots, is making his debut as the creative director for Salvatore Ferragamo. Filipino American designer Rhuigi Villasenor is bringing Bally back to the runway for the first time in 20 years. Tokyo James, founded by British-Nigerian designer Iniye Tokyo James, is presenting a women’s-only collection.

Jean said the real shift that persuaded her to return to the Milan runway was the work of the We Are Made in Italy campaign, which she launched in 2020 with Milan-based African American designer Edward Buchanan and Afro Fashion Week Milano founder Michelle Ngonmo.

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Fashion has recently been the venue for Black resistance in Colombia while American designers hope to break the system.

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