Victoria Beckham says that it's time for the fashion industry to truly embrace diversity

The fashion industry has long been criticized for a lack of diversity at every level—from the models featured on runways and in ad campaigns to the lack of funding and mainstream exposure afforded to designers from the Black and Indigenous communities. In the midst of global Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of Black man George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, fashion mogul Victoria Beckham is speaking up and making a promise to do better.Over the weekend, the designer shared a post with her Instagram followers vowing to take concrete steps in regards to the way her eponymous fashion label does business. In the post, Beckham recognized the role that both her line and her social media platform have to play in making a positive change in the fashion world. She also called on other brands to do the same by making changes both internally and in the broader industry, vowing herself to implement an internal working group responsible for ensuring diverse representation in "everything from our teams and talent to our casting, suppliers and partners."

 

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I’ve taken a step back this week to focus on the tragic events that have been highlighted recently. Watching things unfold and learning more about the Black Lives Matter movement, I’ve been truly sickened by how deeply ingrained racism is in our society. It’s clear that it’s each of our responsibilities to speak out and I want to use my platform for education, conversation and change. The fashion industry has a huge role to play, and for me, it starts with representation, both within my business and who we work with externally. I’ve always aimed for inclusivity, but we all need to look inwards and be better. At Victoria Beckham, we’ve set up an internal working group as a first step and will provide additional support to ensure that we are listening to each other, discussing the issues, identifying unconscious bias in ourselves and ensuring our short and long-term actions reflect all our learnings. Whilst things won’t change or be solved in a day, we clearly can’t wait another day to start and I am absolutely committed to being better and doing more, both personally and professionally. I hope you all share my sentiment and are doing the same with your friends, family, brands and businesses so that we all play our part in this vital issue. x vb #blacklivesmatter

A post shared by Victoria Beckham (@victoriabeckham) on Jun 5, 2020 at 6:21am PDT

Beckham and other fashion industry professionals committed to antiracist action, however, have a long way to go. As recently as last year, designer labels Gucci, Adidas, Moncler and Prada have all seen huge backlash to designs which incorporated racist elements and imagery, resulting in the products being pulled from the market. Burberry made the offensive decision to use a noose in one of its runway shows. Fast-fashion brands aren’t innocent either: both Zara and H&M were called out for dubious product lines and advertising in 2019. And that’s to say nothing of the limited standard of beauty deemed to be acceptable for the catwalk.[video_embed id='1358917']RELATED: Why Virgil Abloh was by far the best choice for Louis Vuitton [/video_embed]For Beckham, the forward movement she’s committed to making seems to begin within her own family. In an earlier Instagram post, she told followers that the Beckhams have been taking time to discuss racism and police violence at home.“I’ve been thinking a lot about it,” she wrote, “and as a mother of four, what’s struck me the most is how important it is to not sit by and watch from the sidelines without doing anything. So as a family, we spent a lot of time this weekend talking and reading about the issue. At first, it was about how shocked and devastated we all are that this still happens in 2020, but has turned more to how we can be actively anti-racist, how we can stand in solidarity with the black community (not just right now, but always), and how we can make a difference.”[video_embed id='1973107']BEFORE YOU GO: Michael B. Jordan wants Hollywood to 'commit to Black hiring' [/video_embed]