Photo by Karina Hoshikawa, courtesy of Fashionista
The fashion industry is notorious for its issues regarding lack of diversity and exclusion, with brand directors historically choosing to remain relatively silent when it comes to topics of racism. Recent episodes of police brutality in America have only drawn the same response, with most houses preferring to ignore the deaths of Philando Castile as well as Alton Sterling and conduct business as usual. Fed up with the lack of acknowledgement, fashion stylist Hannah Stoudemire had enough. And for day two of New York Men’s Fashion Week, Stoudemire, along with a small gathering of supporters, held a peaceful protest at the event’s main venue.
In an interview with Fashionista, Stoudemire expresses the reasons behind selecting NYFW for her platform, stating: “The fashion industry acknowledges black culture and uses it to their advantage when it’s convenient, but they ignore us when we’re dying in the street.” The protest proved successful, as the CFDA finally broke its silence via Instagram shortly afterwards expressing its support of Black Lives Matter. In an industry that explicitly appropriates black and brown cultures without so much as a shout-out, this small victory is a big step in the right direction.