MILAN (ITALY) – Black designers showcased collections at Milan’s fashion week in a show that intended to raise awareness of the lack of diversity in the industry.
The five designers have been supporters of the Black Lives Matter in Italian Fashion group. It has derived inspiration from the international movement against racial injustice.
The “We are Made in Italy” digital event was filmed in Milan’s grand Palazzo Clerici and hosted the spring/summer 2021 collections of Fabiola Manirakiza, Mokodu Fall, Claudia Gisele Ntsama, Karim Daoudi and Joy Meribe.
The event made up for one of the virtual shows of the first fashion week since the pandemic.
The five designers were guided by Italian-Haitian Stella Jean, the only Black member of the Italian fashion council, protesting against racism in the industry.
Jean said, “Made in Italy was represented around the world as being a white concept, now it is no longer like this. The new Italy is not this and does not want to be this.”
Jean is calling for support from the sector’s governing body for Black designers. She also added that Italian fashion houses must do more to tackle racism.
She said, “In Italy we have a racial problem and if we don’t start opening the wound in order to heal it, the wound will never heal.”
