Latest news with #MartineRose
New York Post
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Men are getting off on the wrong foot with this bizarre fashion trend – here's why it's dangerous
Forget the turf — studs are stomping onto city streets. In the latest bizarre-but-make-it-fashion trend, guys are ditching sneakers in favor of full-blown soccer cleats to grab coffee, hit Trader Joe's or strut through SoHo like it's a Champions League tunnel. Dubbed #BootsOnlySummer, the viral movement sees TikTokkers proudly clicking and clacking through sidewalks and supermarkets like they're late for practice, originally reported by GQ. Advertisement In one recent TikTok video by @unknowncr7ttv, four men showed off their Adidas cleats with the caption: '#bootsonlysummer Landed in the U.S.' On May 5, @danlawann_ followed suit, striking a pose in cleats on the concrete with the hashtag #bootsonlysummer plastered on screen. Advertisement This new trend might look good — but in the long run, men's feet won't feel good. In a recent statement, football boot manufacturer UnoZero warned that the trend is a total foul. 'The studs on the bottom of your boots provide traction on grass or turf, not on asphalt, concrete or other hard surfaces,' the brand warned. Advertisement 3 Men are wearing cleats of all different colors in this latest fashion trend. 'When you take them [the cleats] out of their element, you risk damaging the studs, which affects their performance and longevity […] Damaged studs not only reduce grip, but they can also make your boots uncomfortable, potentially causing blisters or poor fit.' Translation: fashion risks blisters and busted boots. Still, the vibe seems too strong to bench. Advertisement The look, which some are calling 'blokecore gone rogue,' pairs cleats with cargo pants, cutoff shorts or even skirts. 3 Deemed #BootsOnlySummer, the viral craze has TikTokkers — and even celebs — lacing up their Adidas FGs and Nike Mercurials to strut through streets and supermarkets like it's game day. Getty Images While walking in them feels like hoofing it in horseshoes, the streetwear crowd is unfazed by a little discomfort for the sake of the aesthetic. And brands are catching on. Martine Rose's collab with Nike reimagined the Shox MR4 into a football boot/heel hybrid — which the U.S. women's national soccer team rocked ahead of the 2023 Women's World Cup. 3 In the latest weird-but-stylish flex, guys are swapping sneakers for studded soccer cleats to snag a latte, stroll through Trader Joe's, or strut SoHo like it's match day at the Bernabéu. Vamos Sports Prod – Meanwhile, as reported by The Standard, sleeker football-inspired kicks like the Adidas Speedcats or Taekwondo trainers offer a less stabby alternative. But for purists, only the real thing will do — even if that means tearing through your cleats on the bodega floor.
CNN
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
From chiseled six-packs to sharp cheekbones, prosthetics are on the rise in fashion
For his Fall-Winter 2025 show at Paris Fashion Week, Dutch designer Duran Lantink continued to break the mold with his offbeat designs. Set in an office space that wouldn't look out of place in the science fiction thriller 'Severance,' the collection featured silhouettes with warped proportions, as well as eye-catching styles that included zany animal prints and butt-revealing jeans. But it was two prosthetic torsos that stole the show. First, was a chiseled six-pack sported by model Mica Argañaraz. Then came the buxom climax: Chandler Frye, an emerging male model, wore a pair of big, bouncing breasts. Videos of Lantink's outrageous antics racked up millions of views on social media as commenters argued over whether it championed gender-fluidity or ridiculed femininity. For Lantink, it was about toying with the idea of humans as dolls. 'I love the idea of women as action figures,' he wrote in the show notes. Perhaps so, but it also tapped into a growing trend on the runways: prosthetics. In recent seasons, fashion brands including Martine Rose, Collina Strada and Balenciaga have used implants, masks and 3D makeup techniques to transform models into animals, aliens and cyborgs. Most memorably, Stockholm-based fashion label Avavav, known for its madcap latex creations, made a wearable replica of Kim Kardashian's backside out of silicone. '(Designers are using) prosthetics to challenge beauty norms and explore transformation and identity, creating a broader cultural narrative,' said Tanya Noor, a course leader of the Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics for Performance undergraduate program at London College of Fashion, over an email. The oldest known medical prosthetics (two artificial toes) date back to ancient Egypt, where they were used as walking aids. Approximately 300 years later, in 300BC, came the first known prosthetic leg; made from bronze and wood, it was thought to have been worn by a Roman nobleman. Following the American Civil War in 1860, more advanced wooden limbs with rubber cushioning were created to meet the needs of new amputees. Then, prosthetics were adopted for the purpose of art and entertainment. At the dawn of cinema, in 1895, prosthetics were created through a crude concoction of materials including gum, cotton and wax. By the 1930s, the invention of foam latex saw rubber masks become commercially available for the first time thanks to prop maker Don Post, earning him the moniker 'The Godfather of Halloween.' For the first time, lifelike faces were readily available for both performers and punters. Elsewhere, prosthetics came to play a key role in the art form of drag, where performers use prosthetic breastplates and hip pads to show varying forms of femininity. Today, the results are more striking than ever: the 2024 horror film 'The Substance' won an Oscar for the prosthetics worn by actors Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley to achieve visceral looks (though Qualley later revealed that the prosthetics caused her skin damage that took a year to recover). They've become a bigger part of red carpet fashion, too. Malina Stearns, a special effects makeup artist, masterminded Doja Cat's look at the 2023 Met Gala, where the popstar embodied Karl Lagerfeld's beloved cat in a custom Oscar de la Renta gown and facial prosthetics. Stearns has also worked with musicians on other creations including the alien that featured in Sabrina Carpenter's 2024 VMAs performance, SZA's bug-eyed album cover and the crocodile-inspired cheeks and chest pieces worn by Doechii. Lantink isn't the only one to use prosthetics to subvert gender norms, either. 'I've applied many fake boobs to men and vice versa,' Stearns said, over email. While materials such as latex are still industry standard when it comes to prosthetics, 3D scanning and printing is allowing for even more complex creations. And fashion, increasingly taking cues from the world of entertainment, is now raiding its props department. In 2019, Balenciaga worked with makeup artist Inge Grognard to create extremely accentuated cheekbones and pouts on the models who walked its runway show. Visual artist and photographer Nadia Lee Cohen used an array of prosthetics, wigs and costumes to change into 33 characters for her 2022 'HELLO My Name Is' project, as she reimagined the person behind each name tag found in a thrift shop. Meanwhile, drag queen Alexis Stone regularly attends Paris Fashion Week as a different celebrity doppelganger each season (most recently, she transformed into Adele, a process which took six weeks of research, sculpting and makeup). A longtime proponent of prosthetics, makeup artist and entrepreneur Isamaya Ffrench has turned models into elfin-eared creatures for Burberry; extraterrestrials for Paco Rabanne; and animals for Collina Strada. 'The (Spring-Summer 2023) show was about breaking down the artificial barriers we put up between ourselves and the planet. So, the idea of transforming models into these hybrid human-animals just felt right,' said Collina Strada's founder Hillary Taymour over email. The prosthetics were purchased from a props studio, and then hand-painted and pierced, to 'feel organic and slightly uncanny,' said Taymour. She had hoped for them to be 'wearable in a high-fashion way' and not come across as gimmicky or party shop fodder. 'These weren't just masks; they were full-on transformations,' she said. When used in fashion, prosthetics have served as commentary on a reality where fillers and facelifts have become more commonplace. Martine Rose sent models with fake noses down the runway at Milan Fashion Week last June in a bid to challenge Eurocentric beauty standards. 'The first thing you see in people is often their nose. And it is often the first thing they change about themselves,' she told Vogue. However, Stearns observed that while a 'plastic surgery look is always popular and people want to enhance (their appearance),' the rise of prosthetics in fashion may have more to do with 'art than cosmetics.' While cosmetics procedures are typically undertaken discreetly to enhance or conceal features, the prosthetics used on the runway are frequently designed to be noticed — a key draw for designers vying to create standout, scroll-stopping moments. 'The desire to create eye-catching content and viral moments lends itself well to the combination of fashion and prosthetics,' Noor said. Taymour views prosthetics as a canvas for artistic expression. 'Fashion has always been about identity play, but prosthetics take it to another level,' she said. 'They let us completely rewrite the human form — why stop at styling clothes when you can style bodies?' Mollie Gibb, a lecturer of the aforementioned hair, makeup and prosthetics course in London, echoed this sentiment, saying that prosthetics are a way for hair and makeup artists to create looks 'in line with the statements that the clothes are making.' Some practical and progressive solutions have appeared on the runway. Alexander McQueen's Spring-Summer 1999 show featured a Paralympic athlete and double amputee wearing carved prosthetic legs. More recently, emerging designer Zhongzhi Ding created jeans with a built-in penis (complete with a workable urethral) made from sponge. They were inspired by Tom of Finland, an artist known for creating highly masculinized homoerotic art, and aimed at transgender men who want to wear gender-affirming clothing. Ding linked the rising interest in prosthetics to body image anxiety. Over email, he shared his belief that 'in the future, (there will be) a demand for prosthetics targeting more body parts.' For the most part, though, prosthetics in fashion remain a work of fantasy over utility. Taymour thinks there's scope for prosthetics to 'go beyond just the face and hands' and 'be used in full silhouette transformations' that also include dynamic movement. 'Right now, a lot of prosthetics are static, but imagine if they had animatronics or soft robotics built in — like a dress that breathes or a tail that sways,' she mused. 'Fashion should always have a sense of fantasy, so let's take it even further.'
CNN
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
From chiseled six-packs to sharp cheekbones, prosthetics are on the rise in fashion
For his Fall-Winter 2025 show at Paris Fashion Week, Dutch designer Duran Lantink continued to break the mold with his offbeat designs. Set in an office space that wouldn't look out of place in the science fiction thriller 'Severance,' the collection featured silhouettes with warped proportions, as well as eye-catching styles that included zany animal prints and butt-revealing jeans. But it was two prosthetic torsos that stole the show. First, was a chiseled six-pack sported by model Mica Argañaraz. Then came the buxom climax: Chandler Frye, an emerging male model, wore a pair of big, bouncing breasts. Videos of Lantink's outrageous antics racked up millions of views on social media as commenters argued over whether it championed gender-fluidity or ridiculed femininity. For Lantink, it was about toying with the idea of humans as dolls. 'I love the idea of women as action figures,' he wrote in the show notes. Perhaps so, but it also tapped into a growing trend on the runways: prosthetics. In recent seasons, fashion brands including Martine Rose, Collina Strada and Balenciaga have used implants, masks and 3D makeup techniques to transform models into animals, aliens and cyborgs. Most memorably, Stockholm-based fashion label Avavav, known for its madcap latex creations, made a wearable replica of Kim Kardashian's backside out of silicone. '(Designers are using) prosthetics to challenge beauty norms and explore transformation and identity, creating a broader cultural narrative,' said Tanya Noor, a course leader of the Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics for Performance undergraduate program at London College of Fashion, over an email. The oldest known medical prosthetics (two artificial toes) date back to ancient Egypt, where they were used as walking aids. Approximately 300 years later, in 300BC, came the first known prosthetic leg; made from bronze and wood, it was thought to have been worn by a Roman nobleman. Following the American Civil War in 1860, more advanced wooden limbs with rubber cushioning were created to meet the needs of new amputees. Then, prosthetics were adopted for the purpose of art and entertainment. At the dawn of cinema, in 1895, prosthetics were created through a crude concoction of materials including gum, cotton and wax. By the 1930s, the invention of foam latex saw rubber masks become commercially available for the first time thanks to prop maker Don Post, earning him the moniker 'The Godfather of Halloween.' For the first time, lifelike faces were readily available for both performers and punters. Elsewhere, prosthetics came to play a key role in the art form of drag, where performers use prosthetic breastplates and hip pads to show varying forms of femininity. Today, the results are more striking than ever: the 2024 horror film 'The Substance' won an Oscar for the prosthetics worn by actors Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley to achieve visceral looks (though Qualley later revealed that the prosthetics caused her skin damage that took a year to recover). They've become a bigger part of red carpet fashion, too. Malina Stearns, a special effects makeup artist, masterminded Doja Cat's look at the 2023 Met Gala, where the popstar embodied Karl Lagerfeld's beloved cat in a custom Oscar de la Renta gown and facial prosthetics. Stearns has also worked with musicians on other creations including the alien that featured in Sabrina Carpenter's 2024 VMAs performance, SZA's bug-eyed album cover and the crocodile-inspired cheeks and chest pieces worn by Doechii. Lantink isn't the only one to use prosthetics to subvert gender norms, either. 'I've applied many fake boobs to men and vice versa,' Stearns said, over email. While materials such as latex are still industry standard when it comes to prosthetics, 3D scanning and printing is allowing for even more complex creations. And fashion, increasingly taking cues from the world of entertainment, is now raiding its props department. In 2019, Balenciaga worked with makeup artist Inge Grognard to create extremely accentuated cheekbones and pouts on the models who walked its runway show. Visual artist and photographer Nadia Lee Cohen used an array of prosthetics, wigs and costumes to change into 33 characters for her 2022 'HELLO My Name Is' project, as she reimagined the person behind each name tag found in a thrift shop. Meanwhile, drag queen Alexis Stone regularly attends Paris Fashion Week as a different celebrity doppelganger each season (most recently, she transformed into Adele, a process which took six weeks of research, sculpting and makeup). A longtime proponent of prosthetics, makeup artist and entrepreneur Isamaya Ffrench has turned models into elfin-eared creatures for Burberry; extraterrestrials for Paco Rabanne; and animals for Collina Strada. 'The (Spring-Summer 2023) show was about breaking down the artificial barriers we put up between ourselves and the planet. So, the idea of transforming models into these hybrid human-animals just felt right,' said Collina Strada's founder Hillary Taymour over email. The prosthetics were purchased from a props studio, and then hand-painted and pierced, to 'feel organic and slightly uncanny,' said Taymour. She had hoped for them to be 'wearable in a high-fashion way' and not come across as gimmicky or party shop fodder. 'These weren't just masks; they were full-on transformations,' she said. When used in fashion, prosthetics have served as commentary on a reality where fillers and facelifts have become more commonplace. Martine Rose sent models with fake noses down the runway at Milan Fashion Week last June in a bid to challenge Eurocentric beauty standards. 'The first thing you see in people is often their nose. And it is often the first thing they change about themselves,' she told Vogue. However, Stearns observed that while a 'plastic surgery look is always popular and people want to enhance (their appearance),' the rise of prosthetics in fashion may have more to do with 'art than cosmetics.' While cosmetics procedures are typically undertaken discreetly to enhance or conceal features, the prosthetics used on the runway are frequently designed to be noticed — a key draw for designers vying to create standout, scroll-stopping moments. 'The desire to create eye-catching content and viral moments lends itself well to the combination of fashion and prosthetics,' Noor said. Taymour views prosthetics as a canvas for artistic expression. 'Fashion has always been about identity play, but prosthetics take it to another level,' she said. 'They let us completely rewrite the human form — why stop at styling clothes when you can style bodies?' Mollie Gibb, a lecturer of the aforementioned hair, makeup and prosthetics course in London, echoed this sentiment, saying that prosthetics are a way for hair and makeup artists to create looks 'in line with the statements that the clothes are making.' Some practical and progressive solutions have appeared on the runway. Alexander McQueen's Spring-Summer 1999 show featured a Paralympic athlete and double amputee wearing carved prosthetic legs. More recently, emerging designer Zhongzhi Ding created jeans with a built-in penis (complete with a workable urethral) made from sponge. They were inspired by Tom of Finland, an artist known for creating highly masculinized homoerotic art, and aimed at transgender men who want to wear gender-affirming clothing. Ding linked the rising interest in prosthetics to body image anxiety. Over email, he shared his belief that 'in the future, (there will be) a demand for prosthetics targeting more body parts.' For the most part, though, prosthetics in fashion remain a work of fantasy over utility. Taymour thinks there's scope for prosthetics to 'go beyond just the face and hands' and 'be used in full silhouette transformations' that also include dynamic movement. 'Right now, a lot of prosthetics are static, but imagine if they had animatronics or soft robotics built in — like a dress that breathes or a tail that sways,' she mused. 'Fashion should always have a sense of fantasy, so let's take it even further.'
CNN
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
From chiseled six-packs to sharp cheekbones, prosthetics are on the rise in fashion
For his Fall-Winter 2025 show at Paris Fashion Week, Dutch designer Duran Lantink continued to break the mold with his offbeat designs. Set in an office space that wouldn't look out of place in the science fiction thriller 'Severance,' the collection featured silhouettes with warped proportions, as well as eye-catching styles that included zany animal prints and butt-revealing jeans. But it was two prosthetic torsos that stole the show. First, was a chiseled six-pack sported by model Mica Argañaraz. Then came the buxom climax: Chandler Frye, an emerging male model, wore a pair of big, bouncing breasts. Videos of Lantink's outrageous antics racked up millions of views on social media as commenters argued over whether it championed gender-fluidity or ridiculed femininity. For Lantink, it was about toying with the idea of humans as dolls. 'I love the idea of women as action figures,' he wrote in the show notes. Perhaps so, but it also tapped into a growing trend on the runways: prosthetics. In recent seasons, fashion brands including Martine Rose, Collina Strada and Balenciaga have used implants, masks and 3D makeup techniques to transform models into animals, aliens and cyborgs. Most memorably, Stockholm-based fashion label Avavav, known for its madcap latex creations, made a wearable replica of Kim Kardashian's backside out of silicone. '(Designers are using) prosthetics to challenge beauty norms and explore transformation and identity, creating a broader cultural narrative,' said Tanya Noor, a course leader of the Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics for Performance undergraduate program at London College of Fashion, over an email. The oldest known medical prosthetics (two artificial toes) date back to ancient Egypt, where they were used as walking aids. Approximately 300 years later, in 300BC, came the first known prosthetic leg; made from bronze and wood, it was thought to have been worn by a Roman nobleman. Following the American Civil War in 1860, more advanced wooden limbs with rubber cushioning were created to meet the needs of new amputees. Then, prosthetics were adopted for the purpose of art and entertainment. At the dawn of cinema, in 1895, prosthetics were created through a crude concoction of materials including gum, cotton and wax. By the 1930s, the invention of foam latex saw rubber masks become commercially available for the first time thanks to prop maker Don Post, earning him the moniker 'The Godfather of Halloween.' For the first time, lifelike faces were readily available for both performers and punters. Elsewhere, prosthetics came to play a key role in the art form of drag, where performers use prosthetic breastplates and hip pads to show varying forms of femininity. Today, the results are more striking than ever: the 2024 horror film 'The Substance' won an Oscar for the prosthetics worn by actors Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley to achieve visceral looks (though Qualley later revealed that the prosthetics caused her skin damage that took a year to recover). They've become a bigger part of red carpet fashion, too. Malina Stearns, a special effects makeup artist, masterminded Doja Cat's look at the 2023 Met Gala, where the popstar embodied Karl Lagerfeld's beloved cat in a custom Oscar de la Renta gown and facial prosthetics. Stearns has also worked with musicians on other creations including the alien that featured in Sabrina Carpenter's 2024 VMAs performance, SZA's bug-eyed album cover and the crocodile-inspired cheeks and chest pieces worn by Doechii. Lantink isn't the only one to use prosthetics to subvert gender norms, either. 'I've applied many fake boobs to men and vice versa,' Stearns said, over email. While materials such as latex are still industry standard when it comes to prosthetics, 3D scanning and printing is allowing for even more complex creations. And fashion, increasingly taking cues from the world of entertainment, is now raiding its props department. In 2019, Balenciaga worked with makeup artist Inge Grognard to create extremely accentuated cheekbones and pouts on the models who walked its runway show. Visual artist and photographer Nadia Lee Cohen used an array of prosthetics, wigs and costumes to change into 33 characters for her 2022 'HELLO My Name Is' project, as she reimagined the person behind each name tag found in a thrift shop. Meanwhile, drag queen Alexis Stone regularly attends Paris Fashion Week as a different celebrity doppelganger each season (most recently, she transformed into Adele, a process which took six weeks of research, sculpting and makeup). A longtime proponent of prosthetics, makeup artist and entrepreneur Isamaya Ffrench has turned models into elfin-eared creatures for Burberry; extraterrestrials for Paco Rabanne; and animals for Collina Strada. 'The (Spring-Summer 2023) show was about breaking down the artificial barriers we put up between ourselves and the planet. So, the idea of transforming models into these hybrid human-animals just felt right,' said Collina Strada's founder Hillary Taymour over email. The prosthetics were purchased from a props studio, and then hand-painted and pierced, to 'feel organic and slightly uncanny,' said Taymour. She had hoped for them to be 'wearable in a high-fashion way' and not come across as gimmicky or party shop fodder. 'These weren't just masks; they were full-on transformations,' she said. When used in fashion, prosthetics have served as commentary on a reality where fillers and facelifts have become more commonplace. Martine Rose sent models with fake noses down the runway at Milan Fashion Week last June in a bid to challenge Eurocentric beauty standards. 'The first thing you see in people is often their nose. And it is often the first thing they change about themselves,' she told Vogue. However, Stearns observed that while a 'plastic surgery look is always popular and people want to enhance (their appearance),' the rise of prosthetics in fashion may have more to do with 'art than cosmetics.' While cosmetics procedures are typically undertaken discreetly to enhance or conceal features, the prosthetics used on the runway are frequently designed to be noticed — a key draw for designers vying to create standout, scroll-stopping moments. 'The desire to create eye-catching content and viral moments lends itself well to the combination of fashion and prosthetics,' Noor said. Taymour views prosthetics as a canvas for artistic expression. 'Fashion has always been about identity play, but prosthetics take it to another level,' she said. 'They let us completely rewrite the human form — why stop at styling clothes when you can style bodies?' Mollie Gibb, a lecturer of the aforementioned hair, makeup and prosthetics course in London, echoed this sentiment, saying that prosthetics are a way for hair and makeup artists to create looks 'in line with the statements that the clothes are making.' Some practical and progressive solutions have appeared on the runway. Alexander McQueen's Spring-Summer 1999 show featured a Paralympic athlete and double amputee wearing carved prosthetic legs. More recently, emerging designer Zhongzhi Ding created jeans with a built-in penis (complete with a workable urethral) made from sponge. They were inspired by Tom of Finland, an artist known for creating highly masculinized homoerotic art, and aimed at transgender men who want to wear gender-affirming clothing. Ding linked the rising interest in prosthetics to body image anxiety. Over email, he shared his belief that 'in the future, (there will be) a demand for prosthetics targeting more body parts.' For the most part, though, prosthetics in fashion remain a work of fantasy over utility. Taymour thinks there's scope for prosthetics to 'go beyond just the face and hands' and 'be used in full silhouette transformations' that also include dynamic movement. 'Right now, a lot of prosthetics are static, but imagine if they had animatronics or soft robotics built in — like a dress that breathes or a tail that sways,' she mused. 'Fashion should always have a sense of fantasy, so let's take it even further.'
The Guardian
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘It was shocking to me': Black female designers still underrepresented at London fashion week
From Ozwald Boateng to Martine Rose, the UK has produced some of the most high-profile Black designers in men's fashion. But London fashion week, which took place in the capital this weekend and focuses on womenswear, is noticeably lacking when it comes to Black female designers. Out of a total of nearly 60 shows, only two were the work of Black women. Relative newcomer Abigail Ajobi showed her luxury streetwear on Friday afternoon, while the more established British-Nigerian designer Tolu Coker – who has dressed the likes of Maya Jama and Rihanna – had a presentation on Sunday. This diversity gap is not new, but it is more relevant with conversations in fashion around designers in top spots at high fashion brands. As Vogue Business asked recently: 'Why are so many creative directors still white men?' Analysing those in top spots across 35 brands, they found that 10 were occupied by white women, three were men of colour while only one was held by a woman of colour – British-Asian designer Sandra Choi at Jimmy Choo. With rumours around changing positions at Burberry and Christian Dior, these are likely to see new roles for white men once again – Kim Jones and JW Anderson respectively. The lack of Black women designing for women in London is contrasted with a wave of Black female designers making menswear to great acclaim. Martine Rose, who dressed Kendrick Lamar for the Super Bowl, and Grace Wales Bonner, who created sell-out Adidas collections and dressed Lewis Hamilton, are both big-ticket names. Bianca Saunders, Mowalola and Priya Ahluwalia (who is of Indian and Nigerian heritage) are other labels that have their roots in menswear. Most of these designers now also produce womenswear – but none of them were present on the London fashion week schedule this season. London is far from alone – fashion weeks in New York, Paris and Milan barely fared better - but it is striking given the capital is typically considered to have a more diverse offering. This is broadly still the case, with brands from Black male designers such as Jawara Alleyne and Labrum highlights, along with events from British-Yemeni designer Kazna Asker and Simone Rocha, who has Irish and Chinese heritage. But in a city where 13.5% of the population is Black, it's striking that there is less spotlight on the experiences and creativity of this demographic. '[Fashion week] is such an important space to amplify the stories that need amplification,' says Coker. 'Being specifically positioned as not just a Black female designer, but a luxury designer, gives a certain dignity and autonomy to what luxury can mean and what it can look like.' In 2020, Kenya Hunt, the editor-in-chief of ELLE UK, produced a BBC documentary called Race and Fashion, which looked at the 'paucity of Black designers, because it was shocking to me'. She says that while it has been 'amazing to see the growth and progression' with Black women in menswear – a sector that is projected to be worth £750.8bn by 2033 – the fact it has not been matched in womenswear is disappointing. 'I've sat on the juries for various prizes, and it's been noted in the designer shortlists coming through,' says Hunt. 'It is quite noticeable.' Following George Floyd's murder in 2020, industries across the board looked more at structural racism and pushed to make space for Black talent. Fashion was no different, with diversity and inclusion policies put in place across companies. But, as a 2023 report suggests, 'public scrutiny on D&I is waning', suggesting progress could stall. 'It's [become] even more important to be strategic,' says Hunt. 'There needs to be a collective discussion, at every point in the pipeline.' Fashion and the Arts Creating Equity (FACE) - was set up in 2021 to improve diversity in education. 'The elitism of the fashion industry starts very early,' says executive council member Benita Odogwu-Atkinson, a creative and fashion education consultant. 'Black students often don't want to go to a place like Central Saint Martins [widely considered to be the 'best' place to study fashion in the UK] because they feel it's very elitist.' Odogwu-Atkinson thinks that a different approach at university-level would change a lot: 'If students are moved on with a lot of inner strength and belief in themselves, they will keep knocking on doors, but if you've already clipped their wings they're not going forward.' Sign up to Fashion Statement Style, with substance: what's really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved after newsletter promotion The situation is compounded by what is known as the 'you can't be what you can't see' factor, says Harris Elliott, curator of 2023's exhibition of Black British fashion history The Missing Thread. Elliott points to seeing Black British designer Joe Casely-Hayford in the pages of i-D when he was studying. 'It gave me a glimmer of hope that there might be a possibility for me to develop a career in design.' He adds: 'If there aren't many Black female designers, then why would you ever even dream that it's an opportunity for you?' Along with Coker and Ajobi, there are London womenswear talents who are not on the fashion week schedule; the British-Jamaican designer Francesca Lake, lace specialist Oiza and modest fashion brand Sabirah are names to know, along with Feben and Torisheju. If class and lack of financial privilege is a struggle for many young talents, Black women are also up against 'misogynoir,' a term coined by gay black feminist American academic Moya Bailey and defined as 'the particular brand of hatred directed at black women in American visual and popular culture'. Even in an apparently progressive industry like fashion, Odogwu-Atkinson identifies a bias towards men. Male Black designers, she says, are 'far and few between'. But 'we as women always come below and underneath that'. Olivia Overton, the founder of Oiza, thinks this prejudice trickles down to consumers. 'I think we have unconsciously been conditioned to trust white males,' she says. 'It's harder for black women, maybe because there's not that trust where it should be. It's almost like we don't belong in that space.' There is also pigeonholing at work. 'If you're a Black designer, they always feel you have to come from a Black perspective,' says Odogwu-Atkinson. 'You're always stereotyped into either looking at your culture or at sportswear.' Deborah Latouche, who works at Sabirah, says this may be part of why her success has been limited at London fashion week. 'Sabirah is womenswear luxury,' she explains. 'Maybe I don't fit into what is considered a Black, female-owned brand. If you are a Black-owned brand, do you need to do sportswear?' Ultimate equality, of course, is for a designer to be judged for creativity first. 'Regardless of what colour I am, we are a brand first,' says Latouche.
