The RAVYN Blog

The fashion industry has become a deadly place to call home.

Over the course of time, the fashion industry has produced shows that dehumanized, insulted, sexualized, objectified, and even mocked the models they employ.

However, as social issues shift, the fashion industry fails to keep up, and as it loses marketability, it’s easy to see why so many brands do their best to ‘appear’ inclusive. The year 2020 has proven that the fashion industry will only support Black women and other minorities when they can capitalize on it.

‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘We Stand with You’ were shouted from the rooftops of many fashion labels, but these same labels have a history of cultural appropriation, body shaming, racial insensitivity, and misogynistic views.

Many of these so-called ‘woke’ fashion brands are elbow-deep in discrimination. They fail to hire Black models, refuse to hire Black designers to work on their teams, Europeanize non-white culture, and produce collections that fetishize Black culture.

The fashion industry needs changing, and we all know it.

The Western world has a warped and twisted view of fashion, and it excludes everyone except for a skinny, blonde, white girl. And unfortunate as it is to say, even those women are being abused by the fashion industry.

Everyone else is a joke and a mockery. When we see Asian women in fashion, their culture is disrespected. When we see Muslim women in fashion, their faith is taken as a joke. When we see Black women in fashion, her body and culture is fetishized.

It is almost like the fashion industry is forcing down our throats what they want us to look like. They want to take away our individuality. It is painful to see that so many people who claim to be socially diverse fall into the trap of praising Western fashion when, over and over again, it has proven itself to be nothing but a sham.

Oftentimes, smaller designers who are worth something are undermined, and their designs are stolen by these corporate fashion houses.

Yes, I have tremendous respect for the designers who came before me. These designers were innovative in their time because they rejected what mainstream fashion told them to like.

None of them looked at other designers and said, ‘I like this. This is my aesthetic.’ They looked at other designers and said, ‘I don’t like this. This is not my aesthetic’, and that was what made them revolutionary. They didn’t follow the norm; they rejected the trends and created what they wanted to wear.

However, these designers were only revolutionary in their time, and I’m not inspired by their European interpretation of African and Black culture. I respect that they designed from the heart and overcame the fashion industry’s obstacles in creating what they wanted, not what others told them to create. But I have to make my own path.

As a person born and raised in a culture that has often been fetishized and abused by mainstream fashion, I’ve come to learn and appreciate the truth of my history. My designs are inspired by my own experiences, my background, and the knowledge that I have as a Black woman.

I create clothing that relates to women like me. I create clothing that caters to the individual taste and perspective of Black women who often struggle to love themselves and their culture.

A few years ago, I vowed not to support luxury fashion, fast fashion, or ‘branded’ fashion because it robs true creatives who have been begging for support.

Whenever I can, I support small businesses and up-and-coming designers like myself because I believe in their work. I believe in their aesthetic and their philosophy. During my time at FIT, I got to see the creative process of many of my peers, and I learned that each of us has a unique voice.

My aesthetic will never be everyone’s cup of tea, but I know many people who resonate with my designs. It took me time to find my style, and I doubted it at times because it didn’t look like everyone else’s.

You asked me what my aesthetic is. I say, my aesthetic is staying true to myself, following my intuition, and never letting go of who I am.

I am a Black Woman, the Daughter of the Most-High. I am a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; God’s own woman, whom He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light.

I design to emancipate, to enlighten, and to empower.