TAKING A STAND

Black Designer Stella Jean Bows Out of Milan Fashion Week Over Lack of Diversity

She’s on a hunger strike until she can ensure there will be no blowback to young designers of color.

Stella Jean, the only Black designer on Italy’s fashion council, is on a hunger strike after withdrawing from Milan Fashion Week over its lack of diversity and inclusion. The Italian National Fashion Chamber has scaled back its support of the We Are Made in Italy collective, a group of young designers of color who have also stepped out of the fashion week, according to Jean. Jean sent a letter to the chamber president, Carlo Capasa, saying she’ll only revoke her hunger strike after ensuring no professional harm will come to the collective “as a result of our misunderstanding.” “This admittedly extreme measure of mine stems from having heard several voices from the collective worried about ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ repercussions,” she wrote in the letter, obtained by the AP. Capasa said that the final fashion week calendar being presented Wednesday is “full of diversity.” He added that he hasn’t read the letter and was unaware of both the collective’s withdrawal and Jean’s hunger strike.