But then, at the start of May, when a video showing the killing of Ahmaud Arbery surfaced online, this industry’s conversations continued to revolve around reworking the seasonal show schedule instead of addressing the seismic sociopolitical issues raised by his death. “Just imagine how that looks to me from a wider lens,” Abloh says. “I was having a hard time being on calls about dates when the news – and the news in fashion – didn’t reflect Arbery’s death.
“My power is to show Black talent, Black people, and Black people inside of my output,” he explains of his approach to inclusion. But, this time, the notable disparity between the conversations happening within the Black community and the fashion industry struck him with particular intensity – not least because the collective nostalgia for fashion’s past, which featured fewer collections, fewer fashion weeks and smaller audiences, was also a system that he’d once been refused entry to .