The Graduate Fashion Foundation is one of those rare organisations that acknowledges global inequalities and disparities, and the impact that this has on the lived experiences of underrepresented individuals, not least in our academic system, is an issue which needs to be tackled and eliminated.
It was such an honour to announce our partnership ‘Fashion Futures’ as a part of GFF’s broader commitment to fuel BIPOC and underrepresented groups’ pipeline projects. Our joint initiative aims to not only sustain the focus on empowering marginalised students, by engaging and supporting them in their endeavours to fulfil their creative potential within the exclusive realm of fashion and design, but also uplift and create spaces that transcend the industry for underrepresented voices.
Understanding, that in order to change the workforce, you have to help create a workforce, we launched during Graduate Fashion Week 2022. The occasion allowed us to invite secondary school students from various regions across the UK thus ensuring our partnership immediately made the industry more accessible to a new generation of youngsters.
One of the most powerful, and genuinely satisfying, moments of the day was our extraordinarily refreshing panel discussion “Big Fish, New Pond…. Navigating The Fashion Industry, Following Education”. The panel united industry thought-leaders: Andrew Ibi, designer, educator and founder of FACE, Vanessa Spence, ASOS Design Director; Anita Chhiba, Creative Director and Founder Diet Paratha, and Tejumola Butler Adenuga, Multidisciplinary Artist and Designer.
“As I come from a similar heritage to her [Anita], hearing how she rebelled against her parents, and did what she wanted to do anyway, was the push I needed to talk to my parents about pursuing a career in the creative arts”…
“I would take away that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, gender, colour or race, you should just do whatever you want” …
“How they got here and what inspired them was really interesting to me” …
“It gave me some guidance and was interesting to see what they go through and their journeys” …
…are just some takeaways from the day, quoted from the students themselves.
Fashion Minority Alliance believes the industries we work in should reflect the world that we live in and those diverse perspectives and, as long as there is marginalisation in the fashion and creative industries, we are committed to championing talented, underrepresented emerging fashion professionals.
Watch the full video below to access more insight from the day.