Sandy Aziz reports on the recent launch of the Black in Fashion Council and its initiatives.

What is it like being Black in fashion? Just one of the main questions that triggered Lindsay Peoples Wagner and Sandrine Charles to create an important foundation designed to instill accountability and encourage inclusivity in the fashion industry.

With its launch on August 3, 2020, this foundation officially became the Black in Fashion Council (BIFC). Through its mission statement, BIFC declared to the world its intention of representing, securing, and advancing Black people in their fashion and beauty careers within the industry. An industry that, the council highlights, isn’t actually progressive if there is not a force of diversity and inclusion that will create real change. More specifically, BIFC noted that “for this change to occur, non-Black brands, publications, and people of influence have to carefully examine the roles they’ve played in either helping or hurting Black people who work in these spaces.”

In discussing the idea of what officially became BIFC, Wagner told Forbes in June, “this is about accountability culture, not a cancel culture”. As such, BIFC and its partners plan to hold themselves and others in the industry accountable while simultaneously raising diversity and inclusion awareness. In fact, BIFC has already partnered with 38 fashion companies including Condé Nast, Calvin Klein, Glossier, Farfetch, Prabal Gurung, Tommy Hilfiger, and more. Part of the plan to partner with these companies involves creating and using an equality index report with measurable benchmarks to reshape corporate policies around inclusion and diversity.

The BIFC team is made up of 40 executives across media, beauty, model representation, brand, stylists, retail, creative directors, education, and fundraising. Additionally, other industry professionals are invited to join BIFC through membership applications on their website. The professionals can choose from a $50 Assistant Membership or a $100 General Manager Membership.

Image via BIFC on Instagram