To subscribe to the BoF Podcast, please follow this link. LONDON, United Kingdom — Aniyia Williams is ready for difficult conversations. The opera singer-turned-fashion tech entrepreneur has navigated systemic racism within corporate culture for years. And as companies slowly begin the process of dismantling policies and norms that harm Black people within them, Williams has a […]
The BoF Podcast: June Sarpong Says Fashion's Gatekeepers Need to Start Thinking Differently About Diversity
To subscribe to the BoF Podcast, please follow this link. LONDON, United Kingdom — In a BoF Live event, broadcast before the death of George Floyd sparked global protests against racial inequality, June Sarpong — the BBC’s director of creative diversity appointed in 2019 — spoke with BoF’s Robin Mellery-Pratt on how organisations can improve their […]
Black Professionals Petition CFDA Over ‘Hasty Attempts’ to Counter Racism
NEW YORK, United States — About 250 black fashion professionals released a strongly worded petition on Thursday, denouncing The Council of Fashion Designers of America’s anti-racism efforts and calling on the trade organisation to use its status to hold the industry accountable on hiring and promoting black people. The letter, called The Kelly Initiative, was […]
Fashion’s Long Road to Inclusivity
LONDON, United Kingdom — In 1973, when Bethann Hardison sashayed down the runway in one of fashion’s most famous showdowns during the Battle of Versailles, she was part of a moment in history that promised to mark an inflection point in the fashion world. The catwalk battle between five upstart American designers — Oscar de […]
In Paris, The #BoF500 Symposium Sparks Conversation on Inclusivity
PARIS, France — “To be inclusive doesn’t mean to point at something and be like, ‘that’s different, let’s love it,’” said Chika on stage at the first BoF 500 Symposium on Sunday morning. Being inclusive “literally means existing, and if anyone wants to challenge that…then I have the language, the rhetoric, the vocabulary to challenge […]