In honor of Black History Month, I want us to go back to the peak glory days for innovative designers. One of those innovative designers was Patrick Kelly.
The majority of fashion houses in luxury fashion are owned by 3-4 conglomerate parent companies that dictate what constitutes “luxury” in fashion, to the benefit of their shareholders and the families that own these parent companies.
It’s why we keep seeing musical chairs of creative directors, and sometimes (not always, but alas) a focus on scalability and profit of luxury brands and many people have questioned if luxury fashion has seen more of an erosion of quality control.
With the growing allegations against luxury houses like Dior producing $2,000 handbags for $57 in deplorable and exploitive labor conditions– to consumers decrying Chanel’s constant price hikes without major shifts in the production of their signature leather goods offerings; It’s an interesting time to be a Creative Director for a luxury fashion house.
Pair those dynamics of the marketplace with another unfortunate reality: we don’t see enough Black designers at the helm of the heritage and luxury designer houses, though Black culture has shown time and time again that we contribute greatly to the luxury space and to fashion culture…
