The Impact of Racism on Fashion Industry- Is Gucci’s half-veiled Sweater Unveiled the Reality of Sugar-Coated Solidarity- Democracy or Hypocrisy

The Impact of Racism on Fashion Industry- Is Gucci’s half-veiled Sweater Unveiled the Reality of Sugar-Coated Solidarity- Democracy or Hypocrisy

Introduction

We are the lovers of beauty, and for this reason, we have some standards to measure the good looks. The biased approach drags us to think about the thin white model or a tall and white man as a beauty symbol. Though the world has diverse colors, race, caste, and creed, still white are a symbol of beauty, and black is considered a substandard race, which is lagged, not only in the fashion industry but in all fields of life. The history of fashion is evident that black people are misrepresented, stereotyped, and marginalized, and their own identity is still surrounded by many controversies (Abate, 2019). Many times, we heard the word “Blacklash,” but now it is not affecting our thoughts and perceptions as we are used to hearing these sorts of things. The term is turned to the latest trending fashion, which is used for marketing purposes, to get more attention as this is the most controversial way to put someone down based on color. The Blacklash story is not new but grounded in deep insecurity of white supremacy. However, it is evolved; still, there is a dire need to reimage and modernized the fashion industry to make a valuable space with dignity (Balliro and Palu, 2019). I think this is the game of power and manipulation of emotions and feelings. As we are living in a modern era, we enormously talk about equity, equality, and social justice, and bringing women to the mainstream, which shows the liberal thoughts of society.

Yes, we love to sing and dance on many black raps, admire Barack Obama’s political moves, talked about Mishal Obama’s clothing in international forums, Will Smith is an excellent performer, and Michal Jackson was a legend. But, even in a nanosecond, we chip away the dark people by showing our real emotions rooted in nepotism of white supremacy. The fashion industry is also a big supporter of black people as Gucci designed Donald Glover clothes, and Parada outfitted Lupita Nyong’o on the red carpet. However, the recent rage among black people and social activists accused Gucci and Prada of the humiliation of black people by launching some controversial products, specifically in February (CMO, 2019). I am not crazy brand new collections, but when the news popped up in media about the controversial jumper. I started researching this topic, and my research unfolds many unique aspects of backlash from vintage to the modern fashion world. This refers to not just a misunderstanding of misinterpretation of fashion. It has a long history, which is based on black deprivation and white supremacy. We want this world to be free from misogyny anti-Semitism and homophobia. Still, these big jargon are not limited to the women, the gay community, or the Jewish, but also the people next door. The boom of social media is making this kind of news just like a fire in a jungle, which impacts on social, economic and political developments of the world, particularly in the west (Brooks, 2019)

A large number of black people protested against these acts, but either they declared a group of  “ridiculous” people or these types of controversies are ended up with a balm of apology. Then again, something happened, and the cycle continuous (CNN,2019). My question is, what is the credibility of these sorts of apologies? And the link of these apologies with the emotions of black people, which are brutally crushed under the feet of these big brands. In this essay, I want to look into reasons for this misogyny, equity, and equality, particularly in the fashion industry. I will take a reference to the recent advertisement for Gucci in my writing. Which reflects the misogynic and discriminatory thinking of white supremacy. It is a matter of the fact that the BIG Gucci Company has a substantial body of intellectual and experienced staff, which are part of the decision making community. I am still wondering how they can permit us to launch this kind of product, which can touch the deep, sensitive wounds of black people. Are they blind or intentionally ignore this disgraced act for black people? Gucci is taking different communities on board to use to mix different flavors of opinion in their creative design house. Prada has also initiated its diversity council that intends to raise the expressions and opinions of multi-raced and color people (Han, 2015).

The Bone of Contention  

The saddening aspect of this story is the premium trade organization, “The Council of Fashion Designers of America” only has 3% of the members. The quality of black designers in the famous New York Fashion week is only 10%, which is an alarming situation for the whole fashion fraternity (Gomes, 2015). I think these facts and figures are the tight slap on the face of diversity lovers, as if they are genuinely ingrained diversity, they should hire more black people, instead of making false claims. Companies’ high officials are using the word diversity, million and billion times in multiple international conferences and seminars. Still, the reality is black people secure minimal space in the world of fashion.

Context and Background of the Racism in Advertisements

As I mentioned earlier, this advertisement stimulates me to unearth more facts about black deprivation in many sectors concerning the fashion industry and also the impact these kinds of scandalous ads on the industry’s social, moral and economic reputation. My perceptions and experiences in backlash are quite different, based on standpoint stance, I want to feel how the things around you are suddenly changed or a pleasant mode rapidly turned into a rebellious feeling. February is the month, which is dedicated to the black community to acknowledge their uniqueness and landmark achievements. However, the February of 2019 is not an overwhelming experience for the black-skinned people. The depriving racism fire was initiated again in the form of the latest fashion to shame black people based on their skin (Independent, 2019).  It is not shocking that big brands are often using furious controversies as marketing strategies to gain quick popularity as fashion and media gurus favorite mantra is “Controversy is the perfect formula to stay long in the limelight”. For instance, the famous Zara’s printed text “what is new in Black” on the T-shirt with black color, which created controversy and later on Zara twitted to take their words back, but the reality is words are sharper than the sword, and wounds of hurtful words never healed. The second story was another retail giant H&M burnt the self-esteem of  black people through an advertisement that showed a child boy wearing a hoodie written with the text “coolest monkey in the jungle.” Katy Perry Collection also made black-faced shoes, which again raised black fingers against the white supremacy of fashion. The symbol of class and style, Prada, also made funny creatures with dark skin with oversized lips and claimed that they are just fictional characters (Morning Mix, 2019). However, after all these controversies, the common thing is they all apologized and offload their shops and outlets from those particular products. However, the question is still the same, is a twitted apology always works? Are they real apologies, or they are faking to balm they sadly give those wounds? These questions pinged me to dig more into fashion research to the intensity of the issue and the roots of racism in the fashion industry. Another most common point in all apologies is the co-called “unintentional” perceptions as all the brands are doing the same thing. Still, they claimed that they have no intentions to offend any construct of society.

The review of Blacklash and Blackface controversy- A Reference from the History

Is it enough to remove all the racial items from the shelves, or is there any other solution? Why the repetition of lame apologies and off shelving the products is considered compensation, are these things could be changed in the future or remained the same? The answer to some of the questions, as mentioned earlier, is grounded in the history of racism, backlash, and blackface.

The story begins with the time of slavery when black people were titled “Sambo,” a term that was used for black people. Then in the eighteenth century, “the Story of Little Black Sambo” was launched, which depicted the story of black-skinned children. After that, it was spread all around the world, specifically in the fashion industry (Helmy and Syafrudin, 2019). After Sambo, white people started targeting black culture by painting their faces and made large outlines, around the face, as similar to the Gucci’s controversial Sweater’s design. Afterward, in funfairs and family gatherings, people used to paint their faces with black color, intentionally to make fun of the black community. They were trying to interpret the black community’s standing in society, as they perceived them as the unintellectual and inferior construct of the society (Hornback, 2018). The new racism has deep-rooted in this minstrel shows, and to some extent, these shows are responsible for creating a sharp image of blackface, which continues for the centuries. Murphy (2005) stated that after a passage of time, blackface entertainment shows started declining, as music, radio, motion pictures, and television shows took over the media industry. But since then, blackface becomes the trending fashion, popular in school and college students.

The Sweater shows big oversized lips, this is not a new thing as full lips, dark skin and black skin are the symbols of shame for the black American community.  The black people had a tough time to stand on their own two feet and reduce the intensity of their features and color (Vikhrenko,2017). However, the recent controversy rub salt in their old wounds as the remembrance of their past cause so much agony, as the month of February, which is celebrated to acknowledge the efforts of black people, turned to be the horrors of old racism. The footprints of backlash are not limited to the fashion and entertainment industry, but it also has a strong on white supremacy as their ideology is shaped to in this way. The legacy of white supremacy is still well and alive today which has ongoing effects. Therefore, in terms of poverty and nepotism, black people faced strong discrimination for many decades (The Washington Post, 2019). There is a heated discussion between the black people and white supremacists on the internet on the design of this Sweater. The reason for this protest is the Sweater is no small thing, it the history of black fashion witnessed the roots of blackface history in it. The question is, how come they made an exact product which is related to the past of black people? Is the statements of Gucci CEO are truly justifying her racism based thinking as just an innocent gesture of solidarity with black people with an innovative and creative approach.

My Chosen Advertisement

Sweater’s Background and Theme

The Sweater was debuted in a Fall/Winter runway show and faced intense criticism, and raised the concern to the official launch of the garment on the Black History Month. Gucci’s stance behind the unique design is an inspiration from” vintage ski masks, multicolored knitted balaclavas walked the runway, adding a mysterious feel to this collection”. After the fashion show, there was no notable criticism observed, and even the half-veiled Sweater was sold more than a year, without any blame (National,2019). However, the sinister was begun after social media take up this issue as a humiliation of the whole black community, termed as “Blacklash” or Blackface trauma for the black people. The Sweater tells the old story, in a new way as it is strongly connected to the racism, the flip side is the creative department of Gucci denied to accept that this is something related to overwhelming black people’s self-esteem. They declared that this is just a coincidence, which turns into a big controversy.

Stance on the selection of this advertisement  

Among all these latest and trading advertisements, I have selected Gucci’s recent ad. The reason to choose this ad is to the see the impact of this advertisement on the industry, reactions of black people, and the consequences of those reactions on the fashion industry in general, and Gucci in particular. The Italian luxury brand is in hot water after putting up a picture of a controversial jumper.  A tall and thin model, with silky light brown hair, clicked in the background with gray color. A long turtle neck covers the whole neck and half of the face and a large cutout with highlight red lips, enhance the intensity of the black color.

Source: The Washington Post, 2019

The above picture shows the height of racism, in which a white model shows that black people are taken over their rights; this is a clear example of showing hatred feelings of the white people. I do not think that they are showing solidarity with black people, but questioning the eyes of the model tells a different story (The Washington Post, 2019). There are two dimensions of this picture, firstly black color shows mourning on something, and the model’s expressions explicitly showing angry or gloomy feelings. Secondly, it is targeting black-skinned people against their race. However, the usual criticisms lead toward an ordinary apology, but these back to back incidences created an unhealthy environment within and outside the fashion industry. There were hundreds and thousands of comments were seen right after this, people showed their profound anger as per tweeted that “Someone didn’t let Gucci know its Black HISTORY Month and NOT BLACKFACE Month.” Another person unveiled his rage against this picture and wrote: ” ah yes, blackface but make it fashion huh?”

Black Skinned People and Social Activists lashed out on Gucci

Gucci’s CEO Bizzarri stated that Gucci is the best brand in terms of diversity. However, the release of the controversial Sweater’s picture collapsed the image of diversity and solidarity with the black people. Likewise, other brands, Gucci, add patrol in the fire and a simple electronic apology was not enough to resolve this serious issue. It was reported that a large number of people accused Gucci to humiliate them and threatened to burn outlets and shops. Despite accepting the reason for this conflict, Gucci’s representatives gave lame excuses such as It is been a long time when we launched this jumper, and suddenly people noticed it and started criticizing it. Bizzarri blamed social media for this outrage and titled “Blacklash” is a term that is commonly used without noticing the background and believes that this is a tiny thing, which is creating a lot of trouble for them. The most controversial “Balaclava jumper,” soon became a bone of contention between Gucci and Black activists right after hitting on the social media, the raging comments on social media not even ruin the divert claims of Gucci, but effected their sales as well. The term backlash is itself a burning issue to stimulate the emotions of the black people, a large body of renowned celebrities, followed by consumers turned activists lashed out on a usual apology and the promise to bring more diversity through hiring black people in the company, who can see the things with their point of view (Wekwerth, 2019). Diet Prada stated on social media that diversity is a need of an hour. However, people only want diversity in the creative department instead of the whole company.

Bizzari and Pinault’s Stance on Blacklash

A war of Arguments

Racism is seen in the design of this Sweater, however, I acknowledged Bizzari’s way to handle this matter as previously, companies just put a formal apology on social media and offload their controversial stuff from the shelves. Bizzari refrains from firing or making any safety net for his employees. His argument is to let them use their creativity in their work, as he was sacred that this conventional action could steal their innovative approach. Subsequently, to balance the designers’ stance and black people’s emotions, he planned to hire mixed-race people to bring designers and other people closer to each other. Moreover, Gucci has hired Kimberly Jenkins, who is working in the capacity of a teacher at Parsons School of Design. The prime purpose of hiring Jenkins is to educate the employees about diversity and its impact on the social, development, business, and politically viable environment. The teachings of Jenkins are not limited to the strategic needs of the people, but he also addresses the importance of intrinsic human values. However, François-Henri Pinault, who is heading the parent company of Gucci, Kering highlighted the importance of freedom of speech over racial education. He stated that we have hundreds of workers, who are working in America and they know the sensitivities of racism, they need the power to express their feelings and contribute to the company’s decisions, to avoid these sorts of incidences in the future. The Kering owner believed that the empowerment of the workers depends on the strong leadership of the principal decision-makers of the company. His statement has a hidden message for Bizzari, and that if he justified his stance only through verbal apology, he might lose his position in Gucci. He believes that the practical implication is more necessary than the powerful statements; he urged to do something in the form of compensation. Pinault’s exemplify his comments as Karing set the target of gender equality in the year of 2025. Therefore, the large population of the company is comprised of women managers (NBC, 2019).

Bizzari’s Boxed Thinking

Bizzari seems reluctant to digest Pinault’s stance. As he outlined the efforts of Gucci to curb the intensity of this backlash issue, Gucci is making strides with renowned African American members of the creative community and fashion. The strides are going far by taking diversity lovers in a loop. He believes that this is the usual practice that people are talking about the perfect blend of communication, diversity, and financial investments. Plus, the digital world and social media, are the game changers as one picture of the Sweater raised hundreds and thousands of questions on the credibility of Gucci’s higher management and competent designers. Bizzarri says, “Whatever you do today, they’re going to criticize,” and in another statement, he said, “Some people will say we’re not doing enough”. He said that we are humans, not machines, and human errors are natural, so critics should rethink the intensity of their criticism (National, 2019).

Black Celebrities take the lead

The backlash outbreaks pulled well-known celebrities on the protest path. Dapper Dan Twitted that he is the black man before the star. That is why he strongly condemned the racist approach of Gucci. He said that apology and lame excuses were not erasing the immense insult and urged to meet the CEO on an immediate basis. Movie director Spike Lee announced that he would not use any Gucci’s products until Gucci hire some black designers on the leading positions. T.I. also took part in this celebrity protest campaign, and request all the supporters to boycott the Gucci products as they assassinated the self-esteem of the whole black community (Independent, 2019).     

Commercial and Sales Problems-A Silver lining 

The strong condemnation against Gucci was not only limited to Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook but also effected their image in front of the whole world; the consequences were effects on the sales of the company which was declined after the huge controversy. The brand is conscious about the negative consequences of this controversy on the business reputation; then they decided to use tactical strategies. Therefore, to control this issue, the CEO of the company used the effective medium of speeches to justify their stance. The company realized the intensity of this controversy, which made them think about long-term plans to support the black community. They underscored the point of diversity, which is lacking in their company, as the spokesman said that due to the changing dynamics of the world, we need to refurnish our relations with other people, to make this world a real global village).

Additionally, he stated that they realized that an ordinary apology is not an ultimate solution to this issue, there is a profound need to make a strategic plan to curtail the intensity of this humiliation, which is utterly intended. Gucci picked this controversy to claim to change the landscape of corporate diversity by promoting the Gucci’s culture with black people. As one of the representatives said that “We are fully committed to increasing the diversity throughout our organization and turning this incident into a powerful learning moment for the Gucci team and beyond.” Gucci scaffolds its policies on the bricks of social welfare and uses the poverty of Africans as a tool to hide the ugliness of racism. Gucci’s next move is to invest five million dollars in community programs and education for poor people. Such programs are the joint venture of the local schools and Gucci to provide quality education to the underprivileged children. The scholarship of these schools covers New York, Mexico City, to Acara, Ghanam Lagos, and Nigeria. Gucci also invests money in ten North American countries, including Washington, New York, Detroit, New York, Toronto, and Atlanta. Furthermore, the company introduced a new policy for its employees to serve in communities by volunteering. The third step is to build a diverse culture in the company, so, Gucci hires a global director for diversity and inclusion and also develop an advisory council that consists of legendary celebrities, academics, and racial justice activists (Wekwerth, 2019).

Conclusion- Not the end, but a way forward

Even in the modern, tech-savvy, and literate era, the controversies are coming in different shapes and sizes, like Gucci’s latest black Sweater resonates with the age of blackface minstrel shows. The brief essay was started from the general introduction, and then explore different aspects of backlash and white supremacy. The research confirms that the statements regarding unintentional backlash are not credible, as several popular brands are using black people’s color to make fun of their ethnicity, and then denied all the allegations (Tate, 2019).  The study points out that denial is underpinned in the long-lasting white supremacy, or other words, it is the game of power and money. As most of the black people are belong from a poor community. However, the evolving standing of the black community allows them to think about themselves, as now the celebrities and social justice actors are turned into rebellions to counter this sort of misrepresentation. The study found that the situation for black people is slightly different from their past, as their prior slavery life did not allow them to raise their voice against racial discrimination. Unlike other brands, Gucci not even apologized from the black community, but also took concrete steps to make this apology meaningful in terms of giving a monetary and emotionally compensation by giving them a chance to speak about their rights in Gucci’s decision making meetings as the company announced to hire more black people to promote the diversity. Educating employees is also seen after this controversy as they have to understand the sensitivity of these racial issues. Yes, I am agreed with the findings of this research, however, there are many questions in my mind, which are bugging me. Such questions are the Sweater presents a picture of racial grudges, and even a layperson can identify this thing, so, how come a body of intellectual people ignore such an essential chapter of racism. I believe that the United Nations (UN) should make some concrete policies to reduce the insecurity of black people as they are the target of embarrassment and poverty for many decades. There are many laws to bound companies to keep the sanity and respect of every individual of the country. But, on the other hand, one after another, these big brands are freely making discriminatory products, the findings of the study showed that there is a gap between the existence of laws and their sustainability. So, it to fill this gap, there is a dire need of monitoring and evaluation mechanism, a mechanism restricts companies to stop the racial war by not manufacturing these sort of stuff. Companies usually take improvement steps, like Gucci, to prevent their business from financial harm, however other companies only ended up with an ordinary apology.  The mechanism is needed to force the culprit to pay fine or compensation money in terms of initiating welfare programs. I am linking this point with Gucci’s social work, as they planned to redesign their policies not even to bring diversity, but help the poor people to reduce the intensity of this issue.

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