Is Diversity in the Fashion Industry Enough?

A look back at the 2010’s biggest diversity milestones and what we need to learn for the new decade.

The 2010s will undoubtedly go down in history as a decade that embraced significant change in diversity within the fashion industry. We saw the emergence of many unrepresented minority groups beginning to dip their toes in the pool of the mainstream, challenging the status quo of the once rigid and strictly cis-gendered, white, size zero fashion industry standard *shady cough* Victoria’s Secret for example.

With the old saying “fashion is a mirror of our time”, it is important to note the factors that may have driven consumers to demand a more inclusive industry. These include the #MeToo movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, fourth wave feminism, and the politically conscious, or “woke”, Generation Z coming of age.

With all these groundbreaking milestones, real change is yet to occur. In the fore coming decade, there are things we as a society must understand before we can achieve a genuinely diverse, inclusive fashion industry.

Looking back through the last ten years, the 2010’s gave way to many monumental firsts for people of color in the fashion industry. Talented designers like Oliver Rousteing and Virgil Abloh became…