You just received a top prize from the Vogue CFDA Fashion Fund on Monday and Chromat has become a celebrity favorite. Do you consider yourself famous? It’s funny because I definitely didn’t start this way, but now that I’m hanging out with Anna Wintour, I can’t really call myself an outsider anymore. Even though I feel like not a traditional part of the system, I have had the opportunities to be a part of it. But, I mean, fame is not really something I’m...
Vogue has given me. So I have to recognize my own participation in this kind of white supremacy
privileges of being considered beautiful or being considered part of the fashion industry to one group of people, not another.
equation. I do think that new magazines that are helmed by people of color or women of color, deserve to have the same power. And hopefully, in the future, as the consumer continues to vote with their money or with their follows, it will be more equality based. I like how you said you’re part of the equation, but that Vogue has also given you a lot of power. Does that put you in an awkward position? No, not awkward. I have to leverage the privileges that I’m afforded and open the doors for others who don’t have the same privileges. That’s my responsibility. What do you mean by white supremacy in fashion? Can you talk more about that? Okay. So let’s talk about beauty norms. Straight hair is a white feature. It’s not super curly or kinky hair. To celebrate or to feature straight hair on the runway as the ideal of beauty is directly tied to white supremacy because that’s saying, “Straight hair is more beautiful than kinky hair or curly hair.” And that’s because, in that sense, that definition of beauty or hair has excluded a group of people who don’t naturally have that hair. And that’s celebrating people who do, which is white people. So that’s celebrating one type of beauty over another, and giving the power and
Do you talk to your colleagues about it?
All the time.
Have you said to Anna Wintour, “This is white supremacy?
Yeah, I need to do that. Our conversations are usually limited to a half a sentence so we don’t really go in [to it]. But I’ve talked to other people on her staff about it, and the former Editor in Chief of Teen Vogue talked openly about it, and I think that’s really powerful and amazing. Anna is building her team to be more diverse, and I think that’s happening, but there is still a lot to do. I was happy you brought up the body hair thing because your shows don’t hide it. Chromat models can have armpit hair. Recently, after Adidas ran a campaign with a Swedish model who had leg hair, she received death and rape threats. Why do you think female body hair evokes such a strong visceral and hateful response? I think that’s the male patriarchy trying to assert control and dominance over what’s considered beautiful and a certain narrow view of beauty and how a woman should maintain her body.
About?
Am I famous, am I not? It’s not really my goal. My goal is to continue to have the opportunity to be creative and empower women through what we make.
So are you an insider [laughter]?
I guess so. I don’t know. It depends on the inside of what.
What are your thoughts on institutions like Vogue Magazine , then? Do you respect it? I think you have to recognize where Vogue came from. It was a society magazine that celebrated society women who were white, and from the elite. And I think that white supremacy is entrenched in who Vogue continues to celebrate. I’m saying that, and I’m also recognizing the privileges that
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