AN OPEN LETTER TO COUTURE HOUSES

Dear Various Couture Houses of the free world,

This is a letter regarding your incessant use of racist imagery, blackface in particular, and how you can break the long cycle of going on the defense when there is a product that the public deems as ‘racist’. As a passionate member of the fashion community, I have followed many releases over the past few years, and from this I, along with the public have seen fashion juggernauts like you drop a few ‘artistic’ pieces that shouldn’t have necessarily been release for the public to purchase. In the new age of social media and technology news spreads like wildfire, and there is no way to put that fire, often now if you try to put it out the fire grows larger and causes more damage than good. Recently, Gucci, one of your competitors has received a great amount hate over their latest release of a black baklava jumper with a pull up neck along with oversized red lips directly resembling blackface. From this controversy Gucci has lost many supporters of their brand and I am writing this to stop you from making the same mistake.

First of all, you Couture Houses need to end the use of blackface in your designs. Over the past year alone there have been 3 different uses of blackface whether that be from Gucci and their latest line, Katy Perry and her recent shoe release, or Prada when they made dark colored monkey dolls with enlarged red lips. It has been made clear that you need a history lesson surrounding this topic so here you go. Blackface is something that can be traced back all the way to the 1830’s, but it wasn’t super popular until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The KKK, a terrorist group that killed and harmed many African Americans, used it as a recruiting mechanism in this time period. What blackface actually is, when a person, usually that of white decent, darkens their skin with shoe polish, greasepaint, burnt cork, and paint large red lips on the face. A mask with these features was very common as well. David Leonard, professor of ethnic and american studies at Washington State University says,”It’s an assertion of power and control.” He goes on to add,”It allows society to routinely and historically imagine African Americans as not fully human.” During a flourishing time of popular culture it was common to see blackface in theatre and cinema. It was a white person always portraying an African American. From this stems an array of stereotypes like lazy, ignorant, criminal, cowardly and more. “We can become the other and mock the other and assert our superiority by dehumanizing the other,” says Leonard. In today’s time, it reminds African Americans of the horrific history that they once had here in the US. Given the history of blackface, there should be absolutely no products that resemble it, and there should be no excuse if there is.

Most recently Gucci has released a black baklava with a pull up neck and oversized lips that retailed at $890. After receiving a great deal criticism on this product because of the resemblance to blackface, they pulled it from online and retail stores and the creative director Alessandro Michele issued a statement. In a letter to employees he expressed pain that one of his creative projects was seen “an intolerable insult.”He also said that the design was inspired by Leigh Bowery, a legendary performance artist, club promoter, and designer himself. Leigh always wore flamboyant, extravagant makeup. Michele continued his statement by saying that it was the “greatest grief”, and that he took “full accountability” of the “unintentional effects.” Because of this controversy Gucci has started to launch scholarship programs aimed to “increase inclusivity, diversity, participation, and cultural awareness.” He then finished the statement with “We are truly committed in facing what happened as a crucial learning moment for everybody.” They played a truly defensive game and that did not go well in their favor. From the statement even more backlash came. Many African Americans said that it’s too little too late. This incident has caused Gucci to lose a large population of supporters to their brand. If you guys don’t get out and ahead and educate yourselves then the same can happen to you.

Black celebrities, especially Hip-Hop artists, are extremely influential in this new age of social media and hundreds of news outlets. With black culture now being popular culture with many influencers and so many ways for people to see what’s going on with them, their opinions spread fast. Gucci’s recent release inspired some black celebrities to take their thoughts to social media and scrutinize Gucci. T.I a well known American rapper, took to instagram and began a full blown attack against them. He refused to accept their apology and has encouraged his followers(nearly 10 million) to boycott the brand. His boycott included steps that encouraged those to stop wearing Gucci and stop buying Gucci. Soulja Boy another well-known american rapper and major influencer, during a livestream said,”Gucci is cancelled. I’m shocked and appalled and I feel disrespected. I supported y’all brand I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and y’all came up with a shirt with blackface on it.” With statements like these coming from largely respected people from the culture, people will stop buying Gucci and their sales will not be as good as other years. The mistake they made is a preventable one. If they incorporated racial bias training into the company before this incident then there would be no problem in the first place.

Unconscious bias training programs are designed to expose people to their unconscious biases, provide tools to adjust automatic patterns of thinking, and ultimately eliminate discriminatory behaviors. A critical component of unconscious bias training is creating awareness for implicit bias. Unconscious bias training will create more pathways for African Americans to hold positions in your companies which will project a better image on to your companies, which can increase sales and growth. You may be thinking about what expenses this could cost and what profits you could possibly lose in a afternoon. But, Starbucks, last year closed down over eight-thousand stores for an afternoon for racial bias training, following an event where two black men were arrested while waiting for a friend at one of their locations. Since then, Starbucks has continued to grow and keep its place as one of the largest coffee chains in the world. It improves customer service and also improves employee performance. But, racial bias training needs to be implemented before crisis strikes. When a company does this after something happens that can jeopardize the company, it’s not recieved as well. It matters what you guys do before a problem hits. It sends a good message and what you stand for as a company. It’s time for a change, it’s time to incorporate racial bias training to your companies, you will regret it if you don’t.

Related posts:

Digital marketing and software engineering are two interconnected fields that have become increasingly important in recent years. As the world becomes more reliant on technology, companies must…

Our law enforcement partners in South America recently set out on the Amazon River to catch a group of traffickers who sold kids down by the water’s edge. This child trafficking business thrived on…

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc tincidunt tortor in sapien consequat, volutpat congue enim ultrices. Ut dictum lobortis porttitor. Duis cursus ex velit, vitae…