Italian fashion hasn't changed enough black designers say

Stella Jean at Karachi fashion week SS/2020

 The designer Stella Jean wanted to make something clear about an impassioned letter she sent to Italian fashion’s governing body: “It’s not a protest,” she said. “I’m not protesting. It’s a proposal.”

Last week Ms. Jean sent the letter — titled “Do #BLM in Italian Fashion?” — to the president and 14 executive board members of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, which organizes the Milan shows. Those board members included the chief executives of Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and more. The letter was co-signed by Edward Buchanan, an American designer based in Milan.

In the letter, shared with reporters on July 30, Ms. Jean and Mr. Buchanan asked for “a constructive, working dialogue” about how to best support the country’s Black designers ahead of Milan Fashion Week in September.

They acknowledged that in late 2019, the fashion council had published a manifesto promising “sweeping reforms” in diversity and inclusion. They suggested that those reforms had not yet come.

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