Haitian-Italian Designer Stella Jean Quits Milan Fashion Week & Goes On A Hunger Strike Over ‘Lack Of Inclusion’

Designer Stella Jean accepts applause at the end of her womens Spring/Summer 2018/19 fashion collection, presented in Milan, Italy, on Sept. 24, 2017. Stella Jean, the only Black designer belonging to Italy’s fashion council is withdrawing from this month’s Milan Fashion Week citing a lack of commitment to diversity and inclusion, and on Wednesday Feb. 8, 2023 announced a hunger strike out of concern that other minority designers associated with her will suffer a backlash.Luca Bruno/AP

Haitian-Italian designer Stella Jean quit Milan Fashion Week and set to organize a hunger strike against the national ceremony. The only Black designer belonging to Italy’s fashion chamber withdrew Wednesday from this month’s Milan Fashion Week, alleging a lack of support for diversity and inclusion after the chamber “abandoned” a project to promote young designers of color working in Italy.

History On Stella Jean

For many that don’t know, Stella Jean is an Italian designer with part Haitian heritage who made a name for herself by hitting the main fashion week ramp in 2013 using African print.

During the 2010s when Africa was finding its identity and claiming prints as its own, Stella Jean grabbed this creative identity and run so far with it when made her debut at Milan Fashion Week in 2013 gaining mass popularity and going viral on Facebook.

Making it in Milan: Getting Biffi with Christie Brown & Stella Jean

Dynamics of fashion during those days were so different and African fashion was on a rise, specifically due to media houses like FashionGHANA.com giving Africans a platform and a movement in fashion. However, the movement was continuously milked by designers outside Africa such as Stella Jean. Her popularity was coined by her use of African prints on the main fashion stages.

Since her popularity, she has often used her platform to address the need for better representation and financial support for design talent of color in the Italian fashion industry

Stella Jean Falls Out With CAMERA

To date, Stella Jean is the only Black member of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion (Camera). She was added to the chamber with the support of Giorgio Armani.

Ms. Jean speaks at a news conference in Milan on Feb. 8. The Haitian-Italian designer is the only Black member of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion.Credit…Colleen Barry/Associated Press

In recent years, she has undertaken increasingly radical steps to encourage racial equity, co-founding a collective called WAMI, or We Are Made in Italy after the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. An initiative launched in 2020 on the heels of the Black Lives Matter movement to push designers of color.

However, Ms. Jean now stands in opposition to the National Chamber of Italian Fashion. She accused the chamber of “abandoning” WAMI and its promotion of young designers of color working in Italy, saying that she believed they had cut their support after a speech she made last September highlighting the challenges of being Black and Italian in the industry.

Hungar Strike

Stella Jean interrupted a press conference by the Italian National Fashion Chamber to announce that neither she nor five members of the We Are Made in Italy collective of designers of color would participate in fashion week, and she had started a hunger strike on Wednesday out of concern members of WAMI.

“The chamber told us, ‘We didn’t know there were Italian designers who weren’t white.’ We brought them to the runway. They supported us for two years. Then we were abandoned,’’ Jean told the press conference.

Designers Of Color In Fear

According to the designer, she fears ongoing professional “recriminations” will occur against her and the designers in her collective — to safeguard the less visible members of WAMI.

The ‘We Are Made in Italy (WAMI)’ collective celebrate on stage at the end of the Stella Jean women’s Spring Summer 2023 collection presented in Milan, Italy, on Sept. 23, 2022. Along with Stella Jean, the WAMI collective is withdrawing from this Month’s Fashion Week, which they were to open with a digital presentation.Alberto Pezzali/AP

“After we confirmed the Camera’s abandonment of WAMI without further specifications and assurances,” Ms. Jean said over a video call, “some collective members confided in me that they feared the worst for themselves and their livelihoods as they suddenly found themselves in an extremely critical and time-sensitive situation.”

The Chamber Replies

In an email sent to The New York Times, Mr. Capasa (the chairman of the chamber) said the Camera Della Moda (the chamber) had not withdrawn its support for WAMI. He said that he had offered the collective a free venue for Milan Fashion Week, which begins on Feb. 21, and that slots on the calendar remained available and at no charge to WAMI designers and Ms. Jean, who announced that she would no longer participate in the show.

Mr Capasa, Chairman of The Chamber

“No step backward was taken on our part regarding the support we offered. Economic support for the production of collections and events for brands is not part of the core of Cameras’s activities. Any additional economic support may be one-off for new brands, especially at the beginning of their journey,” Mr. Capasa wrote. Although there was never a signed partnership, he added, “we are very proud to have always supported WAMI and the Afro Fashion Association projects, adopting different ways depending on the possibilities available at different times.”

Mr. Capasa said that two previous WAMI designers were presenting collections as part of the official calendar in Milan this season and that there would be a new event, the Black Carpet Awards, to be held on Feb. 24, that would showcase work by Italian-based designers of color.

Source:
www.nytimes.com
www.thehour.com

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