Faux-Diversity? Enough is ENOUGH. โDiversity & Inclusion.โ Weโve heard these buzzwords time and time again. I know I canโt be the only person sick of the empty promises, and yesterday, Pyer Mossโ founder Kirby Jean-Raymond said enough was ENOUGH.
In a scathing self-published op-ed onย Medium, the award-winning designer called out the Business of Fashionโs #BOF500 list and its accompanying gala. To be honest, he did more than call them out โ he DRAGGED them. Jean-Raymond lobbed accusations of cultural appropriation, intellectual thievery and flat out foolishness against the publication and its founder and Editor-in-Chief, Imran Amred.
Then the choir comes back on stage. This man, Imran, turns into Kirk Franklin and starts dancing on the stage with them and shit. To a room full of white people.
The words were not tame, they werenโt politically correct, theyโre sure not to win Jean-Raymond any fans at BoF. But they needed to be said.
Fashion has a SERIOUS Diversity Problem
As a plus size black woman, I cannot speak to other marginalized communities, but from where Iโm standing?
Fashion has a diversity problem. And they know it.
Plus size and brown and black bodies are often relegated to a small subsection of fashion, even if the numbers show that PoC and plus size consumers have the spending power to command more attention.ย
Turns out, itโs not just the models walking the runways and featured in magazines. Itโs the people making the decisions as well.
Off the top of your head, how many PoC designers officially presented collections at the latest NYFW?
14 out of 80, or less than 18%.
And for Black designers?
Just five: Pyer Moss, Fenty x Savage, Zendaya x Tommy,ย LaQuan Smith and Telfar.ย
Thatโs on top of the fact that in 2018, the CFDA reported that only 3% of their members were Black (and there are literally no numbers for plus size members). But, donโt let those numbers fool you โ just because Black designers, editors and models arenโt in the mix, doesnโt mean black CULTURE has been left behind.
Itโs quite the opposite actually, and Jean-Raymond had something to say on that point, too:
People feeling like they can buy or own whatever they wantโฆ if that thing pertains to blackness. We are always up for sale.
While Black people may not be reaping the rewards, you can believe that SOMEONE is making money off of us. Rather itโs through the obvious appropriation and repackaging of cultural hallmarks (Iโm looking at you, Kardashians).
Or the actual theft of our creativity, innovation and ideas (again, I am looking at you, Kardashians); Black excellence is everywhere, but we arenโt the ones selling it.
Cultural Appropriation is More Than Hair & Clothes
The most important and thought-provoking part of the op-ed wasnโt the black church choir, or the sudden springing of black fashion โgroup panelโ on the Pyer Moss designer. It was a scenario that almost every black and PoC creative can relate to: the theft of our ideas and resources. Jean-Raymond writes:
To have your brain picked for months, be told that your talk at the โSalonโ and work inspired this whole thing, and then be excluded in favor of big brands who cut the check is insulting.
Iโm offended that you gaslighted me, used us, then monetized it and then excluded us in the most disrespectful way to patronize companies that need โracist offsets.โย
Jean-Raymond alleges that during months of chats with BoFโs Amred, he was pumped for information on the names of people in the industry and on his personal business, all under the guise of a coveted magazine cover.
Now, I wasnโt there for those conversations, but I can definitely relate. And I think many plus size PoC can relate as well. The plus size community, in its current form, wouldnโt exist with the plus size women of color who paved the way.
However, so often, those women are left out of the conversation and receive very little recognition. To put it frankly: black plus size women created this community, but weโre NOT benefiting from it.
And weโre not the only ones; this isnโt just a plus size phenomenon. Or, as Jean-Raymond put it in his IG story, โfashion exploits more women of color than any other industry.โ
Because the truth is, even our ideas and our very creativity are for sale; and weโre not the ones cashing the checks.
Where Does That Leave Us, Then?
Now, in all fairness and transparency, I have to wonder; if Jean-Raymond had indeed gotten his BoF cover, would this have been an issue (no pun intended)? If Imran HAD given the Reebok collaborator his just dues at the BoF500 gala, would we be having this conversation right now?
I canโt call it. What I can say is that nothing he said was off-base or out of pocket. Most importantly, itโs a story weโve all heard or experienced many times before.
In an industry thatโs always looking for whatโs new and next, the black delegation would kindly like fashion to move on from our culture and find something else. Or at the very least pay us what you owe us; in money and credit.
Itโs the least you can do for casting aside the very REAL consequences of being Black. Or, as Jean-Raymond so eloquently put it, โlike, we gonna die black, are you?โ
What do you think? Was Jean-Raymond right in his feelings? Or was he just IN his feelings?
And if he was justified in his feelings, do you see any parallels between his grievances and the plus size community?
Are WoC plus size women being robbed?
Sound off in the comments or head over to my Twitter and let me know your thoughts!
