Empowering Voices: Milan Fashion Week's Showcase of Underrepresented Designers

One fashion show is doing all it can to promote diversity.

Milan Fashion Week was able to highlight both diversity, as well as promote a new initiative that ensures inclusion across the industry. The event was a part of a showcase of underrepresented designers for five days of mostly womenswear previews for Fall-Winter 2024-25, according to the AP.

According to the AP, the Italian Fashion Council, a governmental anti-discrimination office that promotes African fashion, signed an agreement to “trace, identify and fight” discriminatory practices. The initiative will start with a “broad survey to create a snapshot of the representation of women, people of color and other underrepresented groups across the industry, from fashion houses to suppliers.”

Carlo Capasa, the president of the National Fashion Chamber, said to the Associated Press that he hopes to have results in 12 months.

How did this all start? Capasa said he was approached by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s antidiscrimination office for the initiative to “understand what can be done better,” as involving the fashion industry as a closely watched “agent of change in society.”

“I don’t think an association like ours can solve the (discrimination) problem, or it would be very simple to fix. I think we can try to make a small contribution,” Capasa said. “The level of awareness has changed, which is already a step forward.”

The Italian fashion industry has been under fire since the Black Lives Matter movement to be bolder and more forthcoming about the representation of Black folks in decision-making roles. Still, numbers have been halted by privacy limitations, and Capsa said the new survey hopes to overcome this.

He cited the initiative’s focus from other groups promoting designers of color, including the We are Made in Italy, which, in fact, mentors designers of color who are living and working in Italy, as well as the Black Carpet Awards, which commemorates diversity.

The Fashion Hub once more showcased designers from Black communities, including U.S. brands BrceGlen and anOnlyChild. Sponsored by Tenesia Carr of Blanc Magazine and the Italian Fashion Council, the initiative offers a space to network with buyers and the fashion community on the prowl for new brands.

Bruce and Glen Proctor, who are the twins of BruceGlen, showcased a superhero vibe in their colorful “Thrills” tracksuits in layered v-labels honoring the late great Michael Jackson.

“That is our goal with BruceGlen, to design clothing that ignites joy. When I look at myself in the mirror with this outfit it makes me smile,” Bruch said.

According to BruceGlen.com, the two are “identical twins, fashion designers and ministers at The Church, earning the name, The Fashion Preachers.”