The Struggle Of The Black Designer

2008 WAS GREAT ... SO WHAT HAPPENED?

- Qianna Smith-Bruneteau

LET’S PRETEND this is a Flashback Friday. The year is 2008. The city is New York. Hashtag #FBF is not a thing. It’s the arrival of a new hipoisie.

Barack Obama is Time’s Person of the Year. Multicultural design duos such as Public School, the brainchild of Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow, are carving out their own niche within streetwear. At the other end of the spectrum is the arrival of Cushnie Et Ochs, crafted by Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs, which aims to redefine female sensuality through form and function. Model Armando Cabral steps into the men’s footwear space with the launch of his namesake label.

We will always remember 2008 as the year when the fashion industry was shaken to embrace the democratization of luxury fashion. Forever thankful to the chosen few who led the conversation on inclusiveness through patterns, contrasts and textures that defi ed color lines.

Fast-forward nearly a decade later, the brands mentioned are still thriving and housed within the most coveted department stores. Yet penetration into the ranks of this commercially successful insider group remains almost nonexistent. The question is why?