Sexism and the Star System
In understanding a circumstance related to an industry that I am very passionate about, the fashion and streetwear industry, there are several implications and moments of discrimination that are present in both sexism and racial identity. I was very inspired by two articles that aligned with the reading, Room at the Top? Sexism and the Star System in Architecture. I think that pointing this out in an industry that is comparable in many senses, is interesting in thinking specifically on race and the discrimination as an overarching theme, one that I cannot only relate to as a woman, but also as a black individual. The industry’s top leaders are becoming more diverse with the promotion and acknowledgment of Virgil Abloh, but even still, there is a low demographic of black individuals that are dominating and in terms of leadership, there is a slim number of women that are running it all at the top.
For example, in the fashion industry, particularly the streetwear industry, there is an emphasis on black creatives, founders and entrepreneurs engaging with social media in a way that is aesthetically and implicitly black. However, what is interesting about these black engagements in fashion through social media, is that this streetwear style is then adopted and followed by several other racialized groups of people and becomes an inclusive technological style that is adopted while simultaneously black historically. In an article written by Amira Rasool she mentions the ability for black creative directors in fashion to access and attract white people through marketing and digital marketing methods to further drive business and credit. However, it is known how race and diversity circumstances within fashion is deemed to be unaccepting and not accessible for black creatives in working behind the scenes. Rather, styles and trends are taken from black creatives and then driven and constructed into a business model and technological platform by white executives. Rasool explains, the success of Virgil’s brand, Off-White, and Shayne’s now defunct, Hood By Air (HBA), can be directly credited to their ability to creatively reinvent styles pioneered by black people and position them in a way that attracted white luxury audiences, as well as the streetwear communities they also reference” (Rasool, 1). In a business lens, Virgil Abloh the Founder of the brand Off-White a high fashion streetwear brand, announces how being an executive driving the scenes is essential to breaking down barriers and to being unapologetically black. He explains in an article written by Emma Allwood, “What we are actually doing, is showing the fashion world that American men, let alone Black Men, know how to really get busy when it comes to the fashion game…We can’t be erased…an outsider no longer” (Abloh, 1).
Relating these examples to fashion and the streetwear industry to the reading, Virgil Abloh and Off White is a groundbreaking black pioneer that is addressing the curated aesthetic of black vernacular, technological style, architecture and creativity in the fashion industry by breaking the barriers of being black. It is an all-encompassing proposition and nuances of discrimination, that black culture, language and style is coming from a place of resistance and historical moments of unprecedented racism and constructions, but now can be leveraged as a unique technique for driving culture, technology and creativity. Ironically, this unapologetic movement for black culture has pushed and attracted white individuals even more. It is admired, adopted and inspired more individuals outside of black communities in the fashion industry.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/virgil-abloh-louis-vuitton-black-designers
