Love Thy Neighbor: Make Room at the Table
Loving thy neighbor looks like making room at the table for the next man – ‘cuz everybody gotta eat b’ regardless. Today there is room for all of us to be seated at the table, and there is even more room at our own tables. Nobody will steal your light or shine, relax. If you’re great at your gift, your creativity, or talent then be secure in that! You should not be threatened by the next individual.
In Los Angeles, CA, Ashley Walker, founder and creative director of Leimert Park Threads encourages discourse surrounding race through his apparel brand. His graphic shirts that read “Colored,”, challenge the term’s negative connotations through overt celebration of the historical slur.. His drive to initiate fashion discourse is rooted in his Black educational experiences studying fashion merchandising at Howard University in Washington, D.C, and studying abroad at Central Saint Martins in London.
In conversation with Informa Markets Fashion (IMFC) designer Walker, he mentioned that his work is open for individual’s interpretation. As new generations become more socially and culturally conscious than past generations through technology, “different people have different agendas,” Walker said. “Everything is not for everyone but the goal is to push the culture forward,” he added.
In addition to Walker’s aims to reconceptualize the term “colored,” he also repurposes HBCU vintage sweaters and fabric artifacts to make new products. As a result of his dedication to pushing the culture forward, Leimert Park Threads gained a non-profit partnership with Sole Folks. Now, Walker receives grants funds to provide resources for the youth interested in fashion marketing and merchandising. The power of collaboration serves a bigger purpose than just one person, one thought, and one experience, the collective Black spirit eradicates society’s agenda to divide people of color.
Love Thy Neighbor: Everybody Want to Be … So what?
Loving thy neighbor looks like hyping up each others’ work!
Too often we hear ourselves saying, “everybody wants to be a fashion designer”, “everybody wants to be a photographer”, “everybody wants to be a stylist, “everyone wants to work in fashion”. And now, I ask, so what? One person does not represent all.
Sure, with so much happening around us it can be difficult to live outside survival mode. It seems as if everything is urgent and everyone is rapidly producing content without margins for errors. But it is essential to have many people of color in these spaces so that we curate and tell our own narratives.
Prior to designing gender-free shoes, Nik Kacy (pronouns: they/them), the founder and president of Nik Kacy footwear, found it difficult to find shoes that fit comfortably. As a gender non-conforming transmasculine individual, Kacy was motivated to embrace their authentic experiences while utilizing fashion as a platform to dismantle gender norms that have limited individuals’ ideas of self expression.
When speaking with Kacy, they discussed how their footwear designs are influenced by not only their style but also their cultural background and activism in fashion.
“I have been told the market for the niche was too small and therefore it’s not worth producing,” Kacy said. Nik Kacy footwear fits in a range of genderless sizes and proportions. Kacy’s social impact has provided a light for individuals who were once invisible. “People feel free, seen, and heard,” Kacy shared. Kacy’s work in fashion reminds us that sustainability means to give attention to the invisible people who are often exploited by fashion houses, brands, and publications.
Love Thy Neighbor: Support Your Own
As we make room around the table for more people of color who resist cultural and fashion norms, we are reminded to throw out the outdated “only one” mentality and support our own people. It should be easy for us to support our own people if we have been able to tolerate brands whose values are not conscious of social justice issues present in underrepresented communities.
Luckily for us, Designer LaQuan Smith of eponymous luxury fashion house LaQuan Smith has stopped at nothing to expand his brand and establish his place in the fashion industry in the past year. “Although I am a Black designer, I never want to check the box for just that,” Smith stated.
LaQuan Smith’s brand empowers women to embrace their womanhood and body, Smith’s fashion unapologetic aesthetics in his designs and work are tied to his grandmother’s fashion sense. “I want all those who wear my clothes to fall in love with them as much as I do when I design them,” Smith added. Smith resists luxury fashion norms as he only produces two collections per year. Smith shares, “The brands’ values rely on the values that I grew up with. Hard work, determination and perseverance will aid in building the luxury brand that I have dreamed of.”
He explains, “I was driven to start my own fashion house and establish myself in the industry as a privately owned company and at the helm of the company is a black designer and owner.” We continue to tolerate the industry’s failure to acknowledge savage tactics and exploitation of aesthetics that are not their own, all while we fail to shine light on our own.
While these white institutions capitalize off the scrutiny of people of color, they also ignore the concerns of inclusion and diversity. But the luxury afforded by white privilege allows them to live in an opaque bubble filled with blissful ignorance and one more thing, obscuring their view of the racial overtones.
