In times like these, what role does fashion play? What could possibly be the point of clothes in the midst of a pandemic, cascading climate disasters, and social unrest?“We are now in an era of activism, in an era of revolution, in an era of global uprising,” says Céline Semaan, the founder of, a non-profit working at the intersection of climate and social justice. “Fashion plays a tremendous role in all of this.
We’ve seen what happens when they don’t. After George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, the designers who posted lazy statements or empty black squares were swiftly taken to task. There were boycotts, brands were #canceled, CEOs were fired, businesses went under. The industry called it a “reckoning.” It was young people who made that happen by “voting with their wallet” for the brands whose values reflect theirs—and scrolling past the ones that don’t.
Hannah Stoudemire and Ali Richmond hope to see designers take diversity and inclusion more seriously than they did in 2016, when the duo launchedin response to the police killings of Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Sandra Bland, and countless other Black men and women. “Where was the fashion industry then?” Stoudemire asks. “The consumer has realized that the power lies within them. Every time they spend a dollar with a designer or brand, they’re endorsing that brand.
“I love what’s happening,” Richmond adds. “I just hope that the consumer realizes their full potential and their full power. Because it’s going to be very scary when the consumer finally wakes up and says, you know, I don’t need any of this, actually.” “I want brands to understand themselves as aspirational, that they have the resources to make these shifts and be the brands that people need right now,” Drew adds. “Let’s go, let’s see that change happen. We want it!”Vogue