“It would be neglectful not to acknowledge having to fight much harder than my male peers.”

In this op-ed, writer Scarlett Newman on Carly Cushnie and the lack of Black women fashion designers.

After 12 years, Carly Cushnie of the womenswear brand, Cushnie, announced that the brand would be closing due to the effects of COVID-19, which made it almost impossible to keep the label on its feet. Cushnie was established in 2008 alongside her former design partner Michelle Ochs (formerly known as Cushnie et Ochs), who left the brand in 2018. Known for its focused yet organic take on dressing the sexy, sophisticated, and modern woman, Cushnie was adored by high-profile celebrities such as Beyoncé, Michelle Obama, Jennifer Lopez, Lupita Nyong’o, and many more. In June, Cushnie for Target dropped, offering women a more accessible way to shop her coveted designs and silhouettes.

COVID-19 and the recent Black Lives Matter protests have exposed many shortcomings in the industry, but much of the focus has been on racism and sustainability and how it fuels things like employment discrimination, lack of access, lack of transparency, and a void of garment workers’ rights. While we’re tackling poor representation for Black people in the industry at large, within that community it’s important to address that at an even lower rate there is a lack of support given to Black women designers. Of course, there are successes. Tracy Reese, Kimora Lee Simmons of Baby Phat, and more recently, Martine Rose, Aurora James of Brother Vellies, Grace Wales Bonner, and Anifa Mvuemba of Hanifa. But when we speak of Black designers as a whole, male designers are typically at the forefront of the conversation, which begs the question, why are there so few Black women at the helm of their own rtw brands?

In her 2017 dissertation, “Black fashion designers matter: A qualitative study exploring the experiences of Black female fashion design entrepreneurs,” Samii Lashanta Kennedy Benson noted that Black women face unique challenges as fashion entrepreneurs due to the “double yoke of racism and sexism they often face.”

And in 2015, writer Vanessa Friedman wrote for The New York Times that the racial divide starts with education. She cited low percentages of Black attendance at the top New York design schools — the Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons, and Pratt — where Black students were outnumbered in 2014 by Asian American and white attendees. Tracy Reese, one of the most well-known Black women designers, recalled to Friedman that she was one of only two Black students in her graduating class when she attended Parsons from 1982 to 1984.

In September, the Council of Fashion Designers of America created a Black Advisory Board led by president CaSandra Diggs, Tracy Reese, and Bonnie Morrison, who were tasked with creating opportunities for Black American fashion talent as well as fostering equity and inclusion across the industry. The talent included Carly Cushnie, who also sits on the CFDA board of directors alongside Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss and Virgil Abloh of Off-White and Louis Vuitton. If the institution created to sustain American fashion talent can’t save one of its own, how confident can we be in these new systems put in place to foster and sustain new Black female design talent?

“While there are many achievements I am so proud of, it would be neglectful not to acknowledge having to fight much harder than my male peers to afford the same opportunities,” Cushnie wrote in her open letter to the media on closing the brand. “One of the great ironies of the fashion industry is that while it caters to and profits from women, it has never felt like an industry that supports them. This is especially true for women of color. As one of the few Black female designers to achieve this level of success, I am both humbled and empowered by the undeniable mark that I have made.”

While we flood in support for the Christopher John Rogers, Kerby Jean-Raymonds, and Virgil Ablohs of the industry, and other Black male designers that are deservedly experiencing a wave of visibility and success, it’s imperative that we extend that same enthusiasm and monetary support to Black women designers. “I recognize the power of my presence and will continue to fight for the causes and values I believe in and will always continue to create,” Cushnie added. She says she looks forward to embarking on what’s to come and we look forward to an industry filled with more Black women like her.