Global Fashion Roundup: Fashion Our Future 2020 To Encourage Voting With Fashion, The CFDA Launches New Black Advisory Board, And Many More

In this week’s global fashion roundup – fashion news from around the world; Fashion Our Future 2020 uses fashion to encourage voting in America, the CFDA launches new Black advisory board and many more.

Fashion Our Future 2020 To Encourage Voting With Fashion

As November 3 draws near and everyone is waiting in anticipation to head to the polls, Abrima Erwiah, cofounder of Studio 189 has set up a new initiative, Fashion Our Future 2020. The initiative is a voter registration campaign that unites big names in the fashion industry to empower at least 1 million first-time voter registrants to head to the polls. 

Erwiah started this initiative in collaboration with Voto Latino, a political organisation launched by fellow Studio 189 cofounder, Rosario Dawson and Maria Terese Kumar. The Fashion Our Future 2020 project features fashion items that encourage voting and provides education about voting. Their website is an expo on voting 101 and features guides to voting rights, voting eligibility, election dates and deadlines, and voting amid the ongoing pandemic. 

“We hope that everybody is going to ask that question. We hope everyone is going to share videos and pictures of their outfits and get excited,” Abrima Erwiah says. “You look at the March on Washington, Martin Luther King—they all looked so dapper and they’re all wearing amazing suits and showing an appreciation for their rights, an appreciation for life, an appreciation for dressing. I just think it’s so powerful.”

The initiative will launch during New York Fashion Week where Fashion Our Future will debut an exclusive collection. 

Fashion Our Future was born during the pandemic when Erwiah was thinking over the connection between fashion and politics with the Black Lives Matter campaigns and police brutality. The idea hit her when Dawson mentioned that Voter Registration Day was on September 22 and she wondered how to make it a part of NYFW. 

“I am a firm believer that fashion can act as an agent of change,” Dawson said in a statement. “As we approach the most critical election of our lifetimes—when the core principles of democracy are at stake—Gen Z, millennials, people of colour, Latinx, immigrants, and women will make up the vast majority of eligible voters in 2020. Their voices matter more than ever, and the weight of their collective impact starts with a single action: registering to vote.”

Amazon Labor Day Sale Offer Huge Discount on Fashion Items To Help The Industry

Amazon’s Big Labor Day Summer Sale kicked off without much buzz and up until September 7, Amazon will continue to give sales up to 70% off daily deals, with a focus on fashion, lifestyle, back-to-school, and home products. 

Although there will be nor Amazon Prime Day this year, the Amazon Labor Day Sale is helping the struggling fashion industry amid the coronavirus pandemic. The platform provides an opportunity for fashion lovers to shop great sales and fashion deals from a wide range of brands that offer a discount of up to 80% off.

Retailer brand names like Kate Spade, Rebecca Minkoff, Levi’s, Adidas, vera Bradley, and Superga are among those that are part of the Amazon’s Big Labor Day Sale event. The sale also features luxury brand markdowns with Shopbop.

The CFDA Launches New Black Advisory Board

In line with the call for inclusivity in the fashion industry, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), after naming Casandra Diggs its first Black president in August, is launching a new Black advisory board.

The board will be responsible for all CFDA efforts on inclusivity, diversity, and equality. This was done to follow up with their pledge in June to bring a systemic change within the fashion industry.  

The strategic plans the CFDA revealed have been outlined to create “pathways and programming to combat systemic racism and racial inequality in fashion” and to create more opportunities for Black talent in the fashion industry.

“In June, we outlined specific initiatives with the goal of bringing an end to racial injustice in the fashion industry,” said Tom Ford, chairman of the CFDA board of directors in a statement. “The organisation has put in place a structure to execute this strategy and we are firmly committed to creating systematic change in our industry that will empower the critical voices that need to be heard.”

The new CFDA Black advisory board will be led by CFDA president CaSandra Diggs. It will be chaired by executive board chairwoman Tracy Reese, and board members will include Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Samira Nasr, Netflix chief marketing officer Bozoma Saint John, Fashion Tech Connects co-founder Stacie Henderson, and Martin Cooper, CFDA member and co-founder of The Punctilious Mr P’s Place Cards Company.

“We are bringing together an impressive group of esteemed industry colleagues to collectively help us build a framework for increased diversity, equity, and inclusion in fashion,” Diggs said.

The CFDA has also appointed Bonnie Morrison to a newly created role to “lead the strategy and execution of CFDA equity program initiatives with the goal of building opportunities for Black creatives and professionals in fashion”.

In her new role, Morrison will help support and execute new initiatives including the newly created CFDA task force and talent placement programme created for Black creatives and professionals in the American fashion industry. Morrison, who recently founded the Morrison Strategy Partners consultancy, has previously held positions at Coach, Condé Nast, KCD, and PR Consulting.

“These fundamental changes to the organisation allow us to bring important perspectives to the fashion industry,” Steven Kolb, CFDA CEO says, “They will play an instrumental role in our efforts to transform the fashion system and make it more diverse, inclusive, and equitable.”

This is one of its first moves to combat systemic racism in the fashion industry in response to ongoing protests and public outcry in the United States. 

African Kids Fashion Week 2020 Winner Announced

7-year-old June Wisse has emerged as the winner of this year’s African Kids Fashion Week competition. The competition was created to showcase the best of African fashion for children. 

This year’s edition themed the ‘SHOWCASE’’ gave African kids the platform to showcase the best of African fashion inspired by the rich and diverse African culture with traditional fabrics creatively and stylishly as organised by Smart Code Africa. The competition was held virtually, where contestants with the highest likes and engagement online became the African Kids Fashion Week (Showcase) winner.

“This years’ edition aims to build the attitude and develop a personality for the young Africans to love and embrace African attires. ” Ajibola Akande, Creative Director of the event stated. 

Ajibola further highlighted the economic value of the project which is aimed at retaining the foreign exchange that goes out of Africa within Africa.

“Billions of dollars goes out of Africa from the children fashion industry and one of the main objectives of the African Kids Fashion Week is to help retain those funds within Africa,” Ajibola stated. “When the children grow up wearing African fashion, they will definitely stick to it when they are of age. Imagine all the children in Africa are wearing African fashion, you cannot imagine how much that will contribute to the Africa economy with respect to IGR.”

The event gave children between the ages of 4 to 12 years the opportunity to showcase the best of African Fashion inspired by the rich and diverse culture in Africa. The online event started with an entry which began on August 9 and closed on August 22. Voting started on August 23 and ended on August 29, 2020.