Italian designer Stella Jean, who has been at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter conversation in her native country as it relates to the fashion industry, says she is starting to see initial signs of change.
“My mother was a proud, proud Haitian woman. I’d ask, ‘If what you say about your land is true, then why is it not in my French or Italian history books?’ Her answer was an important life lesson — ‘Do not ask the lion the story of how mouse escaped.’” “When you dare to be vocal, that often coincides with the moment that people realize your identity goes beyond you being pleasantly tropical and that you are Black. I have extreme fatigue facing this issue in Italy right now. Since September things have been changing.
In the past few months, Jean has worked closely with the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana — from which she felt initial response to her cause was severely lacking — to establish a Black Lives Matter in Italy Fashion Collective, as well as tools that the Italian fashion industry can use to improve diversity and avoid cultural appropriation.