As we head into New York Fashion Week (NYFW), let’s hope that things are looking better than last season when it comes to body size representation. Back in Spring, NYFW was getting called out for some of the lowest plus-size visibility on the runway in recent history. Meanwhile Noir Fashion Week (NFW) was highlighting underrepresented designers – and underrepresented bodies – at the very same time in New York.
Nichole M. Bess is the founder of Noir Fashion Week. She sees her brainchild as a response to the lack of diversity in the fashion world broadly and at NYFW specifically. Bess says that NFW is a platform for the “overlooked and what some would deem as underqualified. I see NFW as an opportunity to uncover the diamond in the ruff.” Noir Fashion Week was built on Bess’ love of fashion and her drive to give global visibility to marginalized people.
At 19, Bess was interning with Russell and Kimora Lee Simmons as a fashion designer. They later introduced her to Naomi Campbell, which ultimately led to a pivot into public relations. “I started my own PR firm right before my 20th birthday,” shares Bess. “As I was studying to become a fashion designer, I found a love for making dreams come true through the power of media visibility and storytelling. As a budding publicist I knew this was why I was created. I committed full-time to this newfound passion and went all in. I booked clients like Wolford, Saks Fifth Avenue, Betsey Johnson, Agatha of Paris, Deon and Pilar Sanders and many more.”
Bess says she hopes that NFW will outlive her and become known as the springboard to careers like those of her mentors, Christopher John Rogers, Fe Noel and LaQaun Smith, who in 2022 became the first to stage a fashion show inside the Empire State Building.
Though NYFW began in 1943, it became the fashion week we know today 50 years later under the banner of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. The lack of BIPOC representation among NYFW designers and models has received extensive critique, pointing to the fact that even when these designers get shows they receive less media coverage and fewer resources. Bess says she sees NFW as a “stop gap” and “the bridge between the dream and a new reality.” She believes that part of the problem with the fashion world is that BIPOC designers are often unable to afford a well-rounded fashion education or haven’t been equipped with the professional tools they need to take their talent to the next level. She has plans to solve for some of these challenges by launching a non-profit organization that will assist in locating grants, classes, books and international studies for emerging BIPOC designers globally.
When it comes to being a plus-size professional who is the face of an ambitious brand, she shares that she’s had her share of pushback. “I have experienced judgment and criticism not only from my body type but just as a CEO with increased visibility in the fashion world.” Bess says this hasn’t stopped her from being in love with her body. “For me being plus-size has been a dream. Even if ‘they’ have their nose turned up at you, they still want to know who and why you are. As the fashion industry continues to expand and become more accepting of women like me, we have increasingly more options for both style and comfort,” says Bess. “I lean into the lessons my mother taught me, and always know I reign supreme.”
Fashinnovation is a global platform connecting the fashion and tech industries through conferences and events, and is a NFW partner. Jordana Guimarães, Co-founder of Fashinnovation, says she was eager to support NFW when she found out about Bess in 2022. She believes that the fashion industry needs to talk less and do more when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion. “(Things) needs to change if we’re going to see the future we want in fashion,” says Guimarães. “Everyone deserves to see themselves in fashion. Noir Fashion Week is creating a model that deserves emulation and gives the fashion world hope.”
Read the full article here