The Devil Wears A Black Square: A Memoir

Illustration by Baz Pugmire

June represents many things. To some, it symbolizes the long-awaited beginning of a well-deserved period of non-stop laziness. To others, it represents redemption– the perfect opportunity to have a productive summer and compensate for all the hours wasted on nonsense. For the Fashion Industry, however, June takes on a whole different meaning. During this time of the year, marketing specialists and PR assistants go on a cyber hunt to find the “LGBTQ” file they like to open once a year– the one used to flaunt about how inclusive the 5% of their company is.

This year though, our Instagram feeds were bombarded by a slightly different type of activist posts. This time, the “Diversity” file was opened as well. Not only did we get to see the usual rainbow-themed pictures, but we also got to see a large number of empty black squares. As we all know, this black square is quite meaningful. It represents support towards the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement– which brings awareness towards the injustice as well as racial problems that Afro-Americans from the United States (US) have had to face for centuries now. And even though the purpose of this post is positive, some fashion brands have managed to turn it into the new “#ThoughtsandPrayers”– a lazy phrase used by celebrities to show support to causes that do not affect them at all. Sadly, this is the result of a phenomenon known as Performative Activism.

Before starting, it is important to remark that not every fashion company is a victim of this anomaly. Several brands have managed to take matters into their own hands, put money where their mouth is, and reassess the number of people of color (POC) that are part of their workforce. Nonetheless, today I will be expressing my feelings towards the other side of the Industry. The side that solely believes that one black square a day, makes all racial problems go away!

Illustration by Alex Katz, via Diet Prada

Let’s begin with what was once considered to be the “Holy Bible” of the Fashion Industry: Vogue. Ruling with an iron fist as the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue US since 1988, Anna Wintour has created for herself quite a distinctive persona. Famous for her “bob and dark sunglasses” look, Ms. Wintour is mostly recognized for being the inspiration behind Miranda Priestley– one of Lauren Weisberger’s characters from the 2003 classic, “The Devil Wears Prada”. In this masterpiece, Priestley promotes an intimidating environment filled with elitism and exclusivity amongst the working staff of the fictitious fashion magazine “Runway”. An environment where only nepotism, high beauty standards, and money prevail. Even though this bestseller was published almost two decades ago, it is still not far away from Wintour’s current profile.

Unless you haven’t been checking the news this past month, then you probably have already seen Anna Wintour’s lame response to Vogue’s lack of diversity and racial problems. The British editor excused herself, claiming that “...Vogue has not found enough ways to elevate and give space to black editors, writers, photographers, designers, and other creators...”. Allow me to make this clear for you. In the past 32 years that Ms. Wintour has been working as the head of one of the most powerful publications of the Fashion Industry, she has not found any ways to increase the number of POCs working for her. Sadly, this is no shock to me, since less than five years ago they hired their first black photographer. Ever. Poor Anna! If only she were in a position that would allow her to make more inclusive decisions. Unfortunately, empty statements like this one are not new in the Industry. Large corporations have a kink of excusing themselves with politician talk and proceeding to make the same unethical mistakes over and over again. This time is a bit different though. Now, they follow their sad statements with a black square, to add a loose touch of “I care but not enough to make a change.” As a result of this fiasco, people have decided to take matters into their own hands and protest the supremacy that characterizes Vogue. Hence, the creation of the #VogueChallenge, proving to the Fashion Industry that some melanin never goes a long way.

Illustration by Andrea Grigsby

Nevertheless, Vogue is not the only perpetrator of Performative Activism. For the past couple of weeks, the famous IG account Diet Prada has been doing the Lord’s work and exposed several brands that follow racist tendencies. L’Oréal is one of them. Minutes after posting the famous black square on their IG account, the L’Oréal Paris comment section was flooded with complaints from people demanding justice for Munroe Bergdorf, a black transgender activist who was fired in 2017 after supporting the BLM movement on a Facebook post. Hypocrisy at its finest. Unfortunately, other companies did not learn from L’Oréal’s mistake and continued to post a black square without addressing the racial problems that their organization promoted. This list includes popular brands such as Reformation, Urban Outfitters, Anthropology, Zimmermann, among others. And until these companies learn how to turn their weak statements into positive actions, I will gladly keep my distance from them and from any other brand that is unmasked.

Now, it is very easy to point fingers at those entities that are located outside of our community. But what happens to the ones within our area that commit the same mistakes? A lot of people like to defend these companies with the typical excuse of “their situation is not as bad as the ones in the US.” And this type of answer is wrong. Racism of any kind, no matter how “subtle” it is, is still completely unacceptable. Let’s take Italy as an example. When I first moved to Milan, I decided to follow a bunch of Milanese bloggers to learn more about the city I was going to be calling home for the following three years. However, I did not expect to be introduced to such a prominent issue in Italy: racism. After two years of following activists from the Fashion Industry in Italy- Louis Pisano, Tia Taylor, and Jordan Anderson- I can safely say that Italy’s racial situation in the Industry is no better than that of the US. You can see this from how Camera Della Moda (CDM) had absolutely no trouble adding Dolce and Gabbana back to the Milan Fashion Week (MFW) schedule, even though they are one of the most racist designers in the business. Just google “Dolce and Gabbana + racism” for the receipts. The best part is that this happened exactly four days after CDM posted the famous black square stating their “support” against racism. At this point, they are just making fools out of themselves. I could talk about racism in the Italian Fashion Industry for ages, but I will save you the time and recommend you to check out the three bloggers I previously mentioned, as well as Louis Pisano’s blog! And remember, ignorance is not bliss, it’s just plain stupidity.

To finish my never-ending rant, I would like to emphasize the main purpose of this article. It is not just for me to have fun bashing an industry that I love and hate at the same time. The point of this obituary is to raise awareness of the importance of education in social issues in an industry that can be quite sneaky. After this month, I have learned how important it is to research the background of my favorite brands; we always have to make sure that the organizations we support are always aligned with our beliefs. Otherwise, we are no better than the rest. Do not let yourself fall for fake statements, and start expecting actions. Do not lower your standards for brands that are not willing to make a change!