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Prejudice in African Fashion: Taking steps to move us forward

Blives Matter File Photo

Fri, 17 Jul 2020 Source: Udochi Nwogu

As the world continues to grapple with the effects of protests triggered by the killing of George Floyd, there is now a collective realization that African-Americans and people of African descent have for long faced prejudice that has been detrimental to their growth and development.

Yet across many parts of Africa (with the exception of countries like South Africa), we do not contend with racial issues—whether they pertain to black lives or brown lives or red lives—because the majority of our society share the same race. While we may not understand systemic racism, as we do not confront it on a daily basis, we can identify with other forms of bias, which are equally damaging to progress. These come in discrimination based on sex, age, wealth, international exposure and education, and of course, nepotism-to name some of the most prevalent.

The fashion industry in our communities, in particular, is not immune to these forms of bias and prejudice. One of us, Papa Oyeyemi, who has over 10 years of experience in the sector exposed prejudice in the industry when he shared these thoughts in an Instagram post (@papaoyeyemi ).

“I may not have experienced so much racism because I was born and raised in a part of the world where this isn't really commonplace.

My encounters, however, stem from my travels to those regions where the white race predominates in many ways, including through housing, shows, airport & cab services or simply taking a walk down the street or sitting at a bar.

Sometimes, I happen to miss these racial cues, only for them to be brought to my attention by friends.

Not to mention other forms of discrimination I have felt and experienced: favouritism and other forms of injustice that directly or indirectly slow down your achievements by shutting doors on you due to your social circumstances, beauty, or readiness to oblige to one form of abuse or another. It's so sad that talent is no longer a bait on successes, rather, who you know or how well you can kiss arses. I have been abused in ways I wish I could tell through this note but this is not about me. It's about us, everything about us matters.

#YOUSHOULDBEANGRYTOO #IAMANGRY "

As the world confronts issues around race, the time has come for a reckoning in the African fashion industry. We need to begin to look inward to find and uproot bias and prejudice in our systems. We need to ensure that opportunity and access are given freely rather than allow a system where the “undesirables” are not given a voice.

A source who wished to speak anonymously said, "I worked for some time in media covering fashion and lifestyle brands and was privy to the decision-making process regarding who got coverage in our outlets and those that didn't. Decisions were made first by how much money you brought to the table in terms of money paid for coverage, then by how well they knew those running the organization and then lastly, for the decisions being made by non-management level editors and producers, on how much clout or popularity those behind whatever it was that was to be covered had. So, across the board, decisions to publicize or put our backing behind initiatives were never about the merit or value of the offering, event, or product to our society."

Africans are resilient. Because of the difficult environment we are often subject to, we have learned to confront issues unfazed and head on. Because of this, some in our society may be of the opinion that prejudicial behavior or acts of bias that hinder growth are inconsequential -whether they be those we see closer to home in our own ecosystems or the larger issues around race the global community is currently confronting.

Those who argue in this light believe that one should focus on creating and driving his or her success. Furthermore, they argue that validation should come from oneself rather than from external sources. We agree wholeheartedly that self-validation is a must, and each individual is responsible for positioning themselves for success.

However, at the societal level, we believe it is important to speak out against prejudice and bias in order to see them eliminated. First, from an ethical standpoint, bias should have no place in our society and industry. Second and from an economic and financial gains perspective, society benefits when the best talents are allowed to rise to the forefront. When those with the best skill sets and products lead, we all benefit from the best ideas being executed. Only an equal playing ground free of bias makes this possible.

If as members of a global community we are willing to recognize that prejudice based on skin color is unacceptable, then in our African communities we must also recognize that prejudice and discrimination of all other kinds are unacceptable and must be done away with. Therefore, we must be willing to chant:

Poor Lives Matter!

Women’s Lives Matter!

Young Lives Matter!

Unconnected Lives Matter!

Educated-Locally Lives Matter!

The work to reduce prejudice in our society must be done by us. However, the international community can help us as we resolve issues of bias. Therefore, while this "open letter" is intended for the African fashion community, our recommendations that follow are not only for the African fashion community but also the international community- particularly given the current focus on finding and amplifying Black talent.

To avoid or mitigate the impact of bias when looking to identify talent from Africa’s growing fashion sector, we recommend the following:

1. Ensure transparency in the selection process or parameters by which decisions are made.

2. Promote diverse voices or representatives rather than one or two voices to speak for the entire industry.

3. Provide a mechanism for reporting abuse.

4. Regularly review and replace those selected to identify talent from the region.

Are you in the Ghanaian or African fashion sector? Have you ever experienced prejudice during the course of your work? We’d love to hear your story. You can submit your story here- https://bit.ly/biasinafricanfashion - choosing to remain anonymous if you want. You can also find us and submit your stories through the Instagram page @BiasInAfricanFashion or Twitter account @BiasAfricanFshn .

Your stories help paint a better picture of prejudice in our sector so we can understand the issues faced and together move towards solutions.

Authors:

Papa Oyeyemi - Founder, Maxivive ( IG @maxivive @papaoyeyemi ) Papa Oyeyemi is a veteran of the fashion industry starting his signature brand Maxivive at the age of 18. He is a regular on runways across Africa. In addition to @Maxivive, he runs a number of other brands including @WeBoYC, a collective for young Nigerian creatives.

Udochi Nwogu- Founder, It's Made To Order (IG @Itsmadetoorder @udochizoba) Udochi Nwogu is a marketing and strategy professional who has worked extensively in tech, media and fashion in West Africa and in finance in the US. Her current project, It’s Made To Order, is a retail platform highlighting independent designers who create made to order garments. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Columnist: Udochi Nwogu