Add Category“Moving from Nigeria to Los Angeles, I had to adjust to this new life. And then when I was 12, my family decided we were going to move to Houston, Texas, so, culture shock number two. That was the point where I had to ask myself, am I going to allow my difference to be a hindrance, or am I going to use it to push me forward,” he said.
“I realised that my differences were my advantages. I realised my personal story and experiences were going to make my art different and special.”
“You don’t look American”
But while fashion creatives may draw inspiration from their multicultural backgrounds, their perspective is often dismissed by industry gatekeepers.
Prabal Gurung, an acclaimed designer who grew up in Nepal and lived in India before immigrating to the US to study fashion, recalled meeting a potential investor a few years ago.
At the time, Gurung was already known for having dressed Michelle Obama, but when he explained his vision to create a brand that reflected all the different cultures that make up the US, the investor reportedly said, “How can you define American, you don’t look American.”
“I’m an American citizen. I’ve lived here for 20 years. I pay taxes. I make 99 per cent of my clothes here in New York,” Gurung said. “When are we [immigrants] going to be visible to these people? When will our identity matter?”
Soon after the meeting, the designer saw an issue of Time magazine with the question, ‘Who gets to be an American?’, on the cover, and was inspired to create his 10th anniversary collection around that theme.
One of the dresses from that collection is now hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City as part of the Costume Institute’s latest exhibition: In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.
“My role in fashion is to start a conversation. Yes, make beautiful clothes, but at the same time, as a creative person, I’m a storyteller,” Gurung said. My job as a storyteller is to see people and heal people. That’s what I look at as my responsibility.”
A long way to go
While he is grateful that the fashion industry is starting to recognise its diversity problem, and shine a light on designers and other creatives from different backgrounds, he believes there is still a long way to go.
“While the conversation is happening, I’m grateful for that, I think a lot of it is very performative,” he said. “In terms of the global fashion industry, New York fashion is where all these pertinent questions start. If you look at Europe, none of this is part of the conversation.”
Gurung and Mozie were joined on the panel by Gizele Oliveira, a model from Brazil, and Mei Kawajiri, a nail artist from Japan. They all now live in New York City.