Educate and Liberate
The Guardian report of the £995 Louis Vuitton jumper; supposedly a tribute to the flag of Jamaica – but in the wrong colours, is about much more, than Arrogance, Entitlement, Rank-stupidity, Self-sabbotage and Appropriation.
FAIL
In a culture where luxury fashion has produced a litany of culturally offensive items and campaigns, we can home in on systems and thinking that is wilfully dysfunctional. Who can forget the Dolce and Gabbana pizza and chopsticks campaign? Intended as a high-profile announcement to Shanghai’s elite of the brand’s entry into the lucrative luxury market of China, it got them scorned and barred. And there have been others such as, Gucci’s Blackface jumper and Mark Jacob’s pastel dreadlocks, that amongst other things, make clear the poverty of race knowledge amongst these luxy brands. This begs the following question over and over.
What were a large group of highly-paid creatives thinking?
What were a large group of highly-paid creatives thinking? And… why in this day and age, was that inferior group (clearly exclusively white, privileged and incapable of basic fact checking), able to pedal unchallenged race ignorance?
Many young creatives are not able to access an education with a race and culture perspective.
With too few Black academics in the system, fashion continues to anaesthetise young minds.
Our creatives deserve so much better for their money.
Sure, so called Diversity Chiefs have been recruited, brand positioning statements have been made and although Black Lives Matter culture may have focussed many white people on genuine challenge to structural racism, progress is slow because education has still not recognised the power it has, to radically intervene.
Education has still not recognised the power it has, to radically intervene
And herein lies the simple exposure of matters closer to home. We have a fashion education system that will continue to churn out future versions of the botched Jamaica jumper. And because it has always, and still now, will not address its ranking of whiteness and ignorance of race knowledge, as the central system for reference, it will continue to anaesthetise young minds that deserve so much better for their money.
FACE challenges education systems
FACE challenges education systems. And now in partnership with the Council for Higher Education in Art and Design (CHEAD) is set to deliver a high-profile talk for the CHEAD Annual Conference on March 11th focussing on simple but radical change to white-centred process.
During this talk we will also be announcing our campaign: See My FACE; learn more here. And we will be recruiting white-academics to join us by driving this this campaign within their own institutions. Get in!
Text Caryn Franklin