The social justice uprisings of the summer of 2020 truly reshaped how businesses operate. From making Juneteenth a federally-recognized holiday to a mass wave of hiring Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) specialists across the C-suite level, there was no part of society that wasn’t affected by the combination of increased media awareness of Black Lives Matter, anti-Asian violence and a global pandemic.
Educational institutions weren’t exempt from this public accountability: Universities across the country scrambled to send out messages of support to students, staff and faculty — but people were quick to point out the irony of these places finally giving a damn about the violence that BIPOC individuals experience (and had been experiencing for centuries), particularly within academic settings.
When Parsons posted its support of Black Lives Matter on May 31, 2020, students, alumni, staff and faculty alike flooded the school’s social media comments, sharing their experiences with racism and microaggressions at the hands of the renowned fashion school. As a former fashion student and Parsons alumna, I understood exactly where these sentiments were coming from: While I was an undergraduate at Washington State University studying fashion design and merchandising, I often questioned why we exclusively learned how to make clothes for a size 0-2, why no one in the textbooks looked like me, why my professors were exclusively upholding this hegemonic narrative of thinness and whiteness. “Because that’s fashion industry standard,” they’d respond.
I grew increasingly resentful, especially as I would pour blood, sweat and tears — from learning to illustrate on croquis to draping on sample-sized dress forms — into projects I myself would never be able to wear. That resentment turned into determination: I became the first person in my program to create a plus-size collection (and I used exclusively models of color in my presentation). When I pursued my graduate degree at Parsons, I wrote my thesis on the Afropunk subculture and how Black folks with intersectional identities use fashion as a form of resistance.
When I was in grad school, I also started teaching. That’s when I really began to notice how much of the required curriculum upheld whiteness and thinness as the center of fashion history and pedagogy. I didn’t fit into either, neither did the majority of my students. I realized how necessary it was to create a course that reflected the lived experience of all. This fueled my desire to teach full-time.
In the fall of 2021, I was brought on as a course developer for LIM College, as the fashion business school worked on the curriculum for its new minor in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. I specifically worked on a class called “Call to Action: Inclusion in Fashion,” the development process for which we approached holistically: We looked at how the material will contribute to core learning objectives, such as students being able to interpret the complex intersections of race, gender, sexuality and the body as they inform fashion media and culture. I built the course to be approached by anyone, with any level of previous exposure to fashion and to DEI.
“Call to Action: Inclusion in Fashion” starts by covering the history of exclusion in fashion, from fatphobia to racism. (Examples include Saartjie Baartman and how Eurocentricity has been the center of fashion past and present.) Students then analyze more recent instances of this in the industry, such as Dolce and Gabbana’s various controversies and the dwindling number of plus-size models at fashion week. There are various assignments, like an analysis on the representation of plus-size people in street-style photos at fashion week (which was published by Refinery29 earlier this year) and a final project where they create a strategic action plan for a brand they believe needs to improve its DEI practices with a timeline of goals and metrics they want the brand to meet.
Intersectionality is key in this type of course. We can’t talk about sustainability in fashion without also talking about how “sustainable” clothing is often inaccessible to plus-size consumers. We also can’t engage in discourse around how harmful fast fashion is without acknowledging the exploitation of labor in “developing” countries and how that in and of itself is a product of colonialism, racism, sexism and capitalism.
The issues covered throughout DEI courses like “Call to Action” don’t operate in silos, so hearing from experts across the field is also key. Some of the guest speakers have included journalists and bloggers (such as plus-size blogger Sarah Chiwaya of Curvily), designers (like Friday Lynton, a metal artisan and founder of a workshop series offered to children in Brooklyn), founders and entrepreneurs (such as Brittany Hicks, founder of consulting firm Fayetteville Road), activists and educators (like Keena Hudson, a body diversity advocate and professor at Parsons, and Dr. Jonathan Michael Square, an educator and creator of the digital humanities project Fashioning the Self in Slavery and Freedom), all at various stages in their career. Students also receive direct feedback on their work from experts like LaToya Williams-Belfort, executive director of the Fifteen Percent Pledge.
Having people working in the industry coming in to speak to the next generation “enabled students to directly gain real-world knowledge,” Dr. Square told me. “By doing so, the course promoted inclusivity, critically analyzed societal norms, delved into the transformative power of style, and sparked thought-provoking conversations.”
“So often, the fashion industry feels stubbornly stagnant and resistant to change, so speaking to Dominique’s class is always a treat,” Chiwaya said. “It’s so refreshing to see a generation refusing to accept the exclusionary status quo as gospel. They give me real hope for a better future for fashion.”
A handful of fashion programs, including LIM’s, have made topics such as sustainability required learning; DEI, however, is still treated as an add-on, an elective. Some may argue that the material isn’t core to the curriculum, but students would disagree: Enrollment in “Call to Action” has doubled every semester since the class first launched in Fall 2021. In these types of classes, students learn not only about the importance of DEI from a consumer perspective, but also the business benefits of it and potential repercussions when brands don’t get it right.
Fashion programs can no longer ignore underserved populations. Not only are 68% of women in the United States plus-size, but they have a buying power of over $24 billion Similarly, LGBTQ+ populations carry a buying power of $917 billion; people with disabilities hold $490 billion. DEI is just good business.
It’s also a necessary part of a fashion education. Students are learning how to advocate for themselves, their future colleagues and for consumers. Through DEI courses, they gain the skills of creative problem-solving, setting them up to be changemakers and giving them an academic experience that will set them apart in this competitive career landscape.
Joce Blake, a freelance writer who stopped by the class to offer students feedback on their strategic plans, perfectly captured the “why” of the course: “Teaching young college students about diversity, equity and inclusion in fashion is important because it cultivates an inclusive mindset, challenges societal norms, promotes representation and fosters creativity. It equips students with the tools to create a more inclusive and equitable fashion industry.”
Alexis Gaskin, a beauty writer and another one of the experts who sat in on the students’ final projects, noted how instead of jumping on the buzzy trend of DEI without any actual follow-through, students are really invested in how this impacts their future.
“DEI is thrown around a lot in workspaces, but it’s not reaching the levels that it needs to,” she said. “Classes like these are imperative to teach young professionals how to spot the limitations in the industry and put actual research, data and planning to use to make change. Gen Z isn’t playing around with the lack of diversity in the industry, and they’re making it known.”
Never miss the latest fashion industry news. Sign up for the Fashionista daily newsletter.
Source: Fashionista.com