I’ve always been passionate about fashion ever since I was a kid. When I became a teenager, I was more interested in fashion media, but all the editors of major fashion magazines or big fashion designers did not look like me, a black girl. Recently we’ve been seeing more and more black people in fashion, whether it’s fashion designing, fashion writing or modeling. So, I have a list for any black person who loves fashion but is wondering if there is a place for them in that industry:
- Lindsay Peoples Wagner
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Lindsay Peoples Wagner’s career started as an intern in Teen Vogue’s fashion closet. She is now the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine and one of the only young black women in fashion media. She worked at The Cut as a fashion editor, Style.com as a fashion market reporter, Teen Vogue as a Fashion Market assistant and O Magazine as a freelance reporter. Peoples Wagner wrote about beauty, fashion, race and size inclusivity and social justice. She became known through “Everywhere and Nowhere: What It’s Really Like to Be Black and Work in Fashion”, the article that inspired me to write the one you’re currently reading. She won the ASME (American Society of Magazine Editors) Next award for outstanding achievement by a magazine journalist under the age of 30.
- Virgil Abloh
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Does the name sound familiar? Maybe because it’s the name of Louis Vuitton menswear artistic designer. Abloh did not start his professional life in fashion: he first worked as an architect but then shifted careers. He created, in 2009, an art gallery and menswear boutique in Chicago in the same year he became a creative director in Kanye West’s creative agency. He put out his first fashion brand, Pyrex Vision, in 2012. A year later he launched Off-White, a streetwear brand which was an LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) Prize finalist in 2015. He became Louis Vuitton menswear artistic director in 2018.
- Edward Enninful OBE
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Since 2017, Edward Enninful has been the Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue. Enninful started his career as a fashion director at the magazine i-D at the age of 18 – he was the youngest ever to be an editor at a major fashion title. In 2011, he became the style director at W magazine and brought back relevance to the magazine that was struggling at the end of the 2000s. In 2019, the September issue guest-edited by Meghan Markle featured 15 female changemakers like Greta Thunberg, Salma Hayek, and Yara Shahidi. The issue sold out in the first 24 hours. Enninful was awarded an OBE (Order of The British Empire) for his service to diversity in the fashion industry.
- Adut Akech
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Adut Akech is a Sudanese-Australian model. She was born in South Sudan, raised in Kenya and moved to Australia when she was 6 with her family as refugees. She started modeling at 16 in Australia and then was cast by Saint Laurent and walked the Spring/Summer 2017 fashion show. She has now walked for numerous high fashion brands like Versace, Dior and Givenchy and been on the cover a lot of magazines like the international editions of Vogue and i-D. She was the second black model in history to land the bridal spot in a Chanel couture show. Akech is also working with UN High Commissioner for Refugees, supporting refugees worldwide.
There you have it – a list of black people in fashion who inspire and motivate me to work hard so maybe one day I could be like them, too. I hope my list gave new information to people and helped people who think there is no place in fashion because they don’t see people like them. Know that there is always a place for you anywhere, sometimes you just have to create it yourself!