Tackling diversity in the fashion industry

A number of fashion industry insiders have joined together to try and tackle the issues of fiverty and inclusion in the fashion industry.

The Black Lives Matter movement saw Chrissy Rutherford and Danielle Prescod of Harper’s Bazaar and Elle magazine call their followers to action over the issue of systemic racism.

Since then they have united to start and agency called 2BG (2 Black Girls) which is a consultancy for fashion brands and businesses in the beauty space for crisis management and guidance on diversity issues.

The pair plans to work with influencers and will offer seminars covering racism issues in the workplace. The seminars will discuss real life examples of brands that handled situations correctly and incorrectly in the past and will suggest ways for influencers to become allies to the black lives matter cause, suggesting ways for influencers to take action. They will also discuss the intersection of racism and fashion throughout history.

Prescod has pointed out that there is a greater willingness for people to listen to issues on racism and diversity than has existed in the past with more people willing to receive training and advice on behaviour change and improvement going forward.

The pair want to help to trigger change within the fashion industry and plan to hold brands accountable for problematic behaviour and subtle forms of racism such as saying models of different colours or ethnicities are ‘not on brand’. The pair hope to encourage brands to see the power they have in shifting the attitudes and perceptions of the public. The fashion industry has an important role to play in furthering the black lives matter cause since fashion is often the dictator of style and desirability. Better representation of diverse people will help to challenge racist attitudes not just in the industry but in the world at large.