A Black-Italian designer aims to change Italy’s fashion industry

A Black-Italian designer aims to change Italy’s fashion industry

By fijivillage
Monday 01/03/2021
Fashion designer Stella Jean wears a face mask to stop the spread of COVID-19 as she holds fabrics during an interview with the Associated Press, in Rome, on Wednesday, February 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Stella Jean is a Haitian-Italian clothes designer who is trying to change the Italian fashion industry by working with African designers.

She is showing her designs during Milan Fashion Week, a seasonal event in Italy’s northern culture center of Milan. The current show lasts until March 4.

Jean is the only Black member of the Italian National Fashion Chamber, a non-profit group that supports Italian fashion. She credits the group with “a lot of goodwill” in cooperating with five young designers. The effort included financing and business partnerships with Italian suppliers.

CB7-CFC44-E362-44-F4-8-A34-E17492-E537-E5-w650-r1-s[Designer Stella Jean joins the band Soul Voices at the end of her fashion show in Milan, Italy, Sunday, September 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)]

Jean’s work became popular after Giorgio Armani invited her to a fashion show in 2014.

“When you want to do something, you can do them immediately,” said Jean. She said she has been working against the “mentality of a certain part of the Italian fashion world.”

Edward Buchanan and Michelle Ngomo are two Black fashion designers working in Milan. They collaborated with Jean demanding fashion companies show their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement through action.

The Italian fashion group is continuing its efforts by collaborating with five new designers from Italy’s minority communities during fashion week in September.

Jean also wants the world fashion system to value sustainable production methods. So she created an event to build relationships between Italian fashion companies and African fashion designers and artisans. She is also working on a database to document examples of when African culture is misrepresented in the fashion industry.

AD10-D3-E2-73-C1-44-A7-B655-C216-B83-ACD2-E-w650-r1-s[Designer Stella Jean at the end of her women's fashion collection show, presented in Milan, Italy, Sunday, September 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)]

Valerie Steele is the director of The Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology, in New York City. She said many of Jean’s ideas could be copied in the United States and other places.

Steele has some of Jean’s creations in the organization’s museum collection and recorded a conversation with the Italian designer for Black History Month. Steele said Black designers are also under-represented in the United States although Black culture has done a lot for the fashion industry.

“When a few years ago we did an exhibition on Black fashion designers...we were very shocked to realize that on Vogue.com, something ridiculous, like 1% of the designers featured were Black,” Steele said.


FEATURE NEWS
Parents pushing children to go out and sell drugs – Father Sigarara
A qualified psychologist has raised concerns on how our society, that professes to be Christian, have become so cold that even parents and adults are ...
2 hours ago
LATEST NEWS
Residents from Lami to Nausori likely to face water cuts due to water turbidity
Thousands of residents living in areas between Lami to Nausori are likely to face water cuts due to a steady increase in raw water turbidity levels ...
30 minutes ago

18 people undergoing treatment after bus collides with 4x4 vehicle in Lautoka
18 people are currently being treated at the Lautoka Hospital after a Goundar Shipping bus collided with a 4x4 vehicle this afternoon. Police have ...
1 hour ago

Barriers to digital finance leave vulnerable Fijians struggling
Vulnerable groups across Fiji—including elderly villagers, low-income families and rural communities face significant obstacles in accessing ...
1 hour ago

Education Ministry investigates alleged grant misuse and workplace harassment at Ba school
The Ministry of Education is investigating allegations of misuse of the Free Education Grant and workplace harassment at a primary school in Ba, ...
1 hour ago

Bureau of Stats completes Employment and Unemployment Survey, report expected mid 2025
The Fiji Bureau of Statistics has completed its Employment and Unemployment Survey last month, wrapping up a data collection activity that took a ...
1 hour ago



fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan
Latest Videos

Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations

CFL radio frequencies
yb
IN DEPTH
Sporting federations demand answers from FASANOC
National sporting federations who are part of Fiji Association of Sport and National Olympic Committee or FASANOC, are still calling for answers and ...
5 days ago

Continuous Radiology and Pharmacy services are now expected at Government Hospitals
Serious concerns are being raised by the public as the Ministry of Health has decided that radiology services and pharmacies at Government hospitals ...
5 days ago

Ratu Wiliame Katonivere declines Presidential nomination after an internal audit and investigation report
Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka confirms that President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere decided to decline Rabuka's nomination of him to serve a second term ...
6 days ago

TOP