Stella Jean, the only black member of the Chamber of Italian Fashion (CNMI), denounces the lack of support for designers of diverse backgrounds. And announces his withdrawal.
A dramatic twist at the Camera della Moda press conference. Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean commissioned chamber president Carlo Capasa on Wednesday, February 8, before the Italian fashion establishment in Milan announced the next week of runway shows from February 21 to 27. An intervention in which he condemned the interruption of funding to the We Are Made in Italy (WAMI) collective of young multicultural Italian designers, which he co-founded in 2020 with Francine Ngonmo (President of the Afro Fashion Association) and designer Edward Buchanan. The 44-year-old designer expressed regret that his members were unable to complete their collections and present them as planned by the Camera della Moda at the opening of Milan Fashion Week.
Video: Copenhagen Fashion Week (Di)vision fashion show event.
“When President Capassa discovered the number of non-white Italian designers, he offered us his support for four editions spread over two years,” said Stella Jean. Then add: “After that, in September, considering the condemnations we voiced, we found ourselves surrendered. […] Camera della Moda no longer wanted to be associated with this independent collective.” After that, Stella Jean announced that she was withdrawing from the Fashion Week calendar and going on hunger strike until the interviewee guaranteed that this decision would not have any consequences for the designers concerned. An unprecedented form of protest in the field of fashion.
Activity at Fashion Week
“I can’t be the first and only black businessman of Camera della Moda,” Stella Jean was upset. Very committed to diverse, inclusive and ethical fashion, the Italian-Armenian designer is used to showing his commitment with speeches such as at the United Nations or the European Commission, but also with concrete actions. In 2020, in the wake of the Black Lives Matters movement, he decided to no longer present his fashion shows in Milan, while he was the only black designer on this calendar. After returning in September 2022 and in response to the termination of subsidies to the WAMI collective, the activist designer reiterates:
In response, the president of the chamber, Carlo Capasa, recalled that the WAMI collective has been supported for four seasons, including during the pandemic, and that it was offered a place at the Fashion Hub fair (which it declined), as well as in Fashion. Weekly calendar. An invitation that most of its members will therefore not be able to honor due to lack of means to purchase the materials and produce their own clothes. In a statement sent to the media the following day Fashion businessThe president said he regrets the decision of Stella Jean and WAMI and hopes they will change their minds. At the moment, only two WAMI members, Zineb Hazim and Karim Daoudi, will present their new collections during Milan Fashion Week.
Source: Le Figaro
