Spotted: Inclusivity's Curtain Call

A tall handsome man steps in front of a sea consisting of flashing lights and faces making their voices and wishes heard. Silver fringes swing back and forth on the glittery blue suit, the hat bearing a curtain of dangling crystals leaving most up for imagination. Suddenly the curtain parts and reveals the sought after features.

Every time Broadway actor Billy Porter takes to a carpet, he’s sure to make one small step for himself and a giant leap for the fashion industry. As the rising icon of the 2010’s, Porter has dazzled in androgynous styles, ranging from a black tux-gown, custom-made by Christian Siriano, to a red and pink ensemble hinting towards the image of a female uterus for the 2019 Tony Awards. However, the diversity of his seemingly infallible sense of style and notion for transcending messages, there is one attribute tying all of his outstanding outfits together: the incredible force of statements.

Being outspoken in women’s abortion rights and equality for the LGBTQ+ community, he has since earned himself a position as the pioneer of a new decade, navigating the fashion world’s future into a direction free from worn-in norms and filled with courageous re-imagination. The trend underlying the years to follow is the plain but powerful desire for authenticity and a forward-thinking manner.

Fashion in 2020 goes beyond aesthetics and rather breaks through to the core of its wearer and ultimately its communicators. One of such is British Vogue’s own Editor-in-Chief, Edward Enninful, who introduced a new horizon with the September 2019 ‘Landmark’ issue. A prime example for being a ‘First’ by having two editors and certain royalty to bring to the table. After multi-talented Rihanna’s historic cover for the 2018 issue, it was only a matter of time when the march of inclusivity under the lead of Enninful would fully take off. As international editions have been gradually challenging the magazine’s conventions, Vogue launched a global mission statement called ‘Vogue Values’ at the end of December 2019, addressing the unavoidable movement demanding conscious merit, sustainable awareness and a much more diverse landscape.

In Enninful’s own words: “It’s not just the colour of your skin but the diversity of perspective.” Fashion Journalists have now more than ever a responsibility to pure honesty and being eyes and ears for the public while also visualising and contextualising fashion content as a form of human documentation. Finding innovative and appropriate ways to convey the message of contemporary mode through the anthropological facet of fashion. In the midst of social turmoil and political turnabout, it is all about building the bridge between the present and future as well as a foundation for coming decades. Editors are inclined to operate such long-overdue perspectives on an otherwise familiar subject - and the demand is high.

Shown by an 1.1 percent increase in circulation both for digital and print publications, according to U.K.’s Audit Bureau of Circulations in 2018 alone, this shift in coverage and representation is on a par with the readership of the magazine.

As Vogue was considered as exclusivity for the fashion elite, opening up the reception of such media put the publication back on the forefront of modern fashion journalism. Reaching a broader audience is ultimately thanks to socially aware journalists, a characteristic that has been a requirement for as long as press exists.

But we are still far from the goal we’re trying to reach. Plus-Size models are still rather rarity than staple on runways and Adut Akech winning Model of the Year at 2019’s BFA’s makes her one of three women of color to win the sought-after award in the institution’s history. Only when these and many more circumstances lose their extremist image will true inclusivity be within the realms of reality.

As Pantone announced classic blue to be color of 2020, hope and motivation was reignited. This timeless hue underlines the social climate of the moment by being a tranquil but confident symbol for abstrahism. It is editor’s and journalist’s duty to help laying it down, stone by stone, and guiding the industry on a path of inclusivity and equality. As social networks reign the media landscape increasingly by the day, the audience has to be reached visually and ideologically. With a provoking manner do communicators need to operate the language of fashion and voice injustices in order to initiate a fresh decade. Hand in hand with pioneers like Billy Porter, editors need to see past the curtain of diamonds and crystals and start acknowledging the endless inspiration of human resilience and the story that is told through more than just words - but actions.

For example by strutting down the red carpet in a bedazzling blue suit, although we all know it was far more than that.

Thanks to my gorgeous models MATHILDA, CRYSTAL and NISOLA

This is an article written by Lena-Marie Mueller.

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