It is no longer rare to see inclusivity campaigns crumble over time. Initiatives aimed at humanizing a system historically characterized by countless disparities are often set aside as soon as they exhaust the image benefits they proudly display.
What do we mean by inclusion?
The verb "to include," derives from the Latin in-claudere, which refers to the action of enclosing.
Age, gender, ethnicity, disabilities, body shape, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, and sustainability represent elements of dialogue around the theme of inclusion, but they are often used to create debates without providing real solutions.
The new year has just begun, fresh with new proposals and unpredictable events, full of explorations, innovations, technologies, and new values that mark our current way of living.
We now say YES to avant-garde, evolution, and progressivism. Still, only 13 years ago, in 2011, Zendaya was rejected by well-known luxury brands, which justified their refusal with deplorable statements like "We don't dress black girls". During the Hollywood Reporter's first Stylist Roundtable in 2018, the celebrity stylist, Law Roach, confessed that labels such as Gucci, Chanel, or Valentino refused to dress Zendaya due to reasons related to the actress's ethnicity.
Dear society, what a great progression uh?
"We don't dress black girls".
Fortunately, over time, the industry has undertaken some consistent changes. In 2020, following the shocking incident of the murder of forty-six-year-old George Floyd, the world began to cry out for systemic changes.
Thanks to the viral spread of hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter, #icantbreathe, #justiceforgeorgefloyd, new movements have taken their rightful space, promoting initiatives aimed at supporting the black community, ethnic minorities in general, and striving for non-selective and heterogeneous inclusion.
However, simultaneously with the development of new protests, voices, and movements, new profit opportunities have also emerged for businesses. This is the reason why initiatives from well-known luxury brands in favor of ethnic inclusion have not been lacking but with the sole purpose of promoting their image.
Let us dig into the Ferragamo case. The brand decided to post a photo depicting multiple, different skin-toned, hands raised towards the sky, quoting Nelson Mandela's book "Long Walk to Freedom" and adding, "Reaching for a more egalitarian future. Racism must end now. #BlackLivesMatter."
Through a compelling reaction, the actor from "13 Reasons Why," Tommy Dorfman, did not miss the opportunity to criticize the fashion label. On Instagram, Dorfman declared that "The people who run the company" are "racist, transphobic, and not body positive."
The actor supposed that Ferragamo hired black and trans people "by force of hand" and did not "treat them equally," adding that the number of minorities they feature in campaigns is still small. Dorfman also said he had directly heard Ferragamo's creative director, Paul Andrew, asking if "they could make a black model white in Photoshop."
Ferragamo was not the only one to generate scandal; the renowned French brand Céline also faced accusations of hypocrisy. Following George Floyd's tragic event, Céline published a post to demonstrate the brand's commitment to the value of equity, expressing aversion to all forms of racism, discrimination, and oppression.
However, this post immediately lost credibility following the stylist Jason Bolden's response. He commented stating that the brand had previously refused to dress celebrities of color unless they had a white stylist.
The problem in the fashion industry is that, often, what is portrayed as social advocacy is nothing more than opportunities that managers identify to ensure a boost in their image. Dramatic events are stripped of the respect they deserve and become mere tools for promotion.
Many brands, like Ferragamo and Céline did in the past, exploit significant and timely issues of public interest, demonstrating sudden activism to derive economic benefits.
This phenomenon is referred to as "woke washing", which means using social justice issues as a marketing strategy. Brands capitalize on topics such as LGBTQ+ rights, gender equity, body neutrality, climate changes, or peer opportunities to capture the interest of consumers sensitive to these issues.
Virgil Abloh, in an interview with British Vogue, states that after the incident related to the murder of George Floyd, brands rushed to release messages of solidarity, facing a negative reaction from those who perceived them as masking structural failures. "But no one knows how to talk about race," he stated. "It's so deep in our hearts, so full of different experiences. Or, in most cases, people do not even know what it means to feel oppressed. So can we allow people to say the wrong thing if they do?"
In addition to hashtags and donations, "I want to see systemic change, not reactive change. I want the human resources department to understand and express solidarity for why this is a critical issue before doing it for public relations reasons," he says. "Everyone is rushing to get back to normal, to a clean image. But this is the critical moment to utterly understand. I hope for conversations that are lasting".
I asked myself repeatedly how, in our era, it is still possible to witness episodes of discrimination after years of protests and revolutionary figures who, tired of living in oppression, have sacrificed their freedom or their own life to reclaim that dignity should rightfully belong to all human beings equally.
I have tried to inquire where the problem originates from: is it from human nature, the shift in values, the transformation of society and its desire for fame and success? Where do the sources of discrimination truly hide to continue to persist?
Striving not to settle for comfortable justifications dictated by value judgments on society, I see that the true obstacle lies in grasping the systemic importance of the concept of inclusivity.
The question we need to ask ourselves is not how to be more inclusive, but rather, how can we enhance diversity?
As we said, inclusion stems from "in-claudere", which underlies the characteristic of being included in a group. A group characterized by diversity has different perspectives and different ideas, innovative approaches and sparks of creativity, winning contaminations, and innovative blends. The beauty of discovery lies in the willingness to open ourselves to something new and different. However, we must ardently believe in the richness of diversity and desire its development.
The solution is not trying to adapt to an oppressive system, but to blindly believe in the value of inclusivity, without doubts or second thoughts. Only through the pure conviction and objective application of this value, we can uproot a system deeply embedded in a sterile and perpetually unchanged ground.
Only deep conviction, which then leads to creation, influence, and dissemination can guide us toward a new, DIVERSE fashion concept.
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