Prada creates diversity council after blackface outrage to ‘elevate voices of colour’ in fashion industry

Italian luxury fashion brand takes measures after apologies from Gucci and Katy Perry about blackface in their products
Council to be chaired by artist Theaster Gates and film director Ava DuVernay

Fashion

Associated Press

Published: 12:40pm, 14 Feb 2019

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Italian brand Prada is forming a diversity council to “elevate voices of colour within the company and fashion industry at large”, a move that follows accusations of racism in the luxury fashion world.

Two Americans, artist Theaster Gates and film director Ava DuVernay, will chair the council, Prada said. The group will work to develop “diverse talent” and create more opportunities for students of colour, the luxury fashion house said.

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Gates said his work “amplifies the voices that have been absent from the broad cultural conversations”, and he was happy to work with Prada to help make the company more “reflective of the world today.”

Prada apologised in December and immediately withdrew bag charms that resembled black monkeys with exaggerated red lips. Critics said the charms recalled the blackface caricatures that long propagated racist stereotypes in the United States.

Film director Ava DuVernay (pictured) and artist Theaster Gates will chair the council. Photo: AP

The fashion world controversy intensified after a similar misstep this month by Gucci. Another prominent African-American film director, Spike Lee, said he would wear neither Prada nor Gucci until they included black designers.

“Prada is committed to cultivating, recruiting and retaining diverse talent to contribute to all departments of the company,” said Miuccia Prada, CEO and creative director. “In addition to amplifying voices of colour within the industry, we will help ensure that the fashion world is reflective of the world in which we live.”

She said the initiative would “help us grow not only as a company, but also as individuals”.

A model wears a mouth covering from Gucci that has been likened to blackface. Photo: AP

Blackface caricatures popularised in 19th century mistral shows also have attracted renewed attention in the United States after old photos emerged of white politicians wearing blackface or condoning it.

Prada is not the only brand to take measures after such a misstep. Just two days ago, after pulling a sweater recalling blackface after public outcry, Alessandro Michele, creative director of Gucci, lamented in a letter to employees both his own pain and “that of the people who saw in one of my creative projects an intolerable insult”.

Marco Bizzarri, Gucci’s president and CEO, told WWD: “The lack of knowledge of diversity and the consequent understanding are not at the level we expected, despite all the efforts we [made] inside the company in the last four years.’’

The company is now “evaluating all the processes’’ to ensure “the right level of awareness and visibility”, he said. According to reports, Bizzarri is currently touring the US to meet with leaders in communities such as Harlem.

Shoes from the Katy Perry Collection have caused outrage.

Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Katy Perry also apologised after being accused of selling shoes that evoke blackface.

In a statement, Perry and brand management company Global Brands, which launched her footwear collection in the spring of 2017, said the styles in question “were part of a collection that was released last summer in nine different colours (black, blue, gold, graphite, lead, nude, pink, red, silver) and envisioned as a nod to modern art and surrealism”.

“I was saddened when it was brought to my attention that it was being compared to painful images reminiscent of blackface,” the statement continued. “Our intention was never to inflict any pain. We have immediately removed them from Katy Perry Collections.”

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