Gucci and Katy Perry's ‘blackface’ designs are a symptom of overwhelming whiteness in the fashion industry

Just over a year ago, Swedish retailer H&M was forced to apologise after a promotional image showed a black child wearing a t-shirt with the slogan: “coolest monkey in the jungle”. At the time, this error was almost unbelievable, causing many to accuse the fashion giant of racism.

In recent months, there have been several instances of fashion brands offending the black community with clothing that panders to offensive and, in my view, racist imagery. Last week, Italian fashion powerhouses Gucci stopped selling a “balaclava knit” that featured a roll neck design that was criticised for resembling blackface. Just days later, singer Katy Perry has been forced to apologise after a pair of shoes from her latest range drew similar comparisons.

In the issued apology, Katy Perry and her representatives at Global Brands Group insisted that their recent collaboration was “never meant to inflict any pain”. Yet, with incidences like this happening more regularly, can we blame black people for thinking that fashion brands are simply using controversy to market their products?

As a black woman who has worked in the fashion industry, I can see that the problem is deeper rooted, stretching far beyond the conversion of social media likes to sales. The fact that such designs can be authorised by so many people within an organisation is deeply concerning. In a time where comments and captions sit on conveyor belts waiting to be scrutinised on social media, how did Perry and Gucci think that this was going to go unnoticed? How is it that the directors of design, e-commerce, press and sales all managed to turn a blind eye to something so obviously offensive?

The answer is equal parts simple and sad: there are just not enough people who might be offended by these products employed by these brands. Of course a blackface mule can be seen as a “nod to modern art” when you are not black. Of course it is easier to see the humour behind a Pepsi advert mimicking #BLACKLIVESMATTER rallies when you are not black. Of course you can think everyone is overreacting and “bringing race into everything” when you are not black and therefore not the target of the crassness.

In April 2017, Gucci released their “Soul Scene” campaign for Pre Fall 2018. The images were beautiful, capturing the essence of black seventies soul. Instagram and Twitter went wild, flooding the brand’s profile page with a plethora of appreciative emojis. I felt like I was the only one who wasn’t impressed and in hindsight, I was clearly right not to be.

Most people, particularly those of black and ethnic minority backgrounds, took the campaign as a progressive win. But, to me, it all seemed too surface level, like a band aid being used to heal a deeper wound. Representation is about more than campaigns. It is about sending black models down seasonal runways when they have international buyers to impress. It is about advertising in black publications and hiring black creatives.

The fact that Gucci’s 2017 shoot was inspired by Mali born photographer Malick Sidibe, but still shot by white British photographer Glen Luchford, speaks more than a thousand words, doesn't it?

That’s not to say there hasn’t been progress. On one hand, we have Fenty Beauty, Virgil Abloh and Edward Enninful, smashing ceilings and breaking moulds for consumers of colour. But on the other, we still have a history of fashion that is built on tactless disregard for a demographic that presents the purchasing power of approximately $1.2 trillion.

In short, if the back offices of these brands were better reflective of their clientele, I bet that these highly publicised incidences of racist iconography or slogans would decrease drastically. Digital outrage is, of course, a starting point, but more needs to be done to ensure proper cultural representation in the design process. It is representation, but more precisely participation, that will create lasting change within the fashion industry.

Chimmy Lawson is a writer, blogger and author based in London.