Fashion: it's a white man's world. Here's why.

1 Nov 2023

When Kering announced the departure of creative director Sarah Burton from Alexander McQueen earlier last month, as well as the appointment of her successor Sean McGirr, a wave of disappointment and frustration spilled from private group chats into the public sphere of social media. With every creative director position at Kering now occupied by a white man, the decision exposed the prejudices and discrimination at the heart of our industry. The inequality has been felt for years by the people working inside fashion studios but remains largely unaddressed by those writing about or leading them.

Though the controversial appointment was widely covered by fashion and general media, imminent change seems unlikely. Since the news of the appointment broke, two more white men were suggested for creative director positions: Davide Renne obtained a position at Moschino and Walter Chiapponi is rumoured to move to Blumarine. The inequality is deeply rooted but systematically silenced.

“Everyone is pissed off. For me, it has nothing to do with Sean or his appointment. It’s about the pattern.”

NDA contracts and a culture of secrecy continue to conceal the problem. 1 Granary interviewed multiple women and people of colour, currently in senior positions at Kering- and other conglomerate-owned luxury fashion houses. Their anger was palpable, but unsurprisingly, rendered absent from public discourse.

“Everyone is pissed off,” one head of design shared. “For me, it has nothing to do with Sean or his appointment. It’s about the pattern. The barriers of entry are just different for women than they are for men.” Those who know Sean describe the Irish-born designer as “kind”, “down-to-earth”, and “capable”, and everyone welcomes the decision to give opportunities to younger, behind-the-scenes profiles. The problem, however, is that those opportunities are only granted to a select demographic. “When I speak to the men I know in the industry, all of them will admit that they have advantages.”

“If you’re a good-looking white guy at a well-performing brand, you start being considered for these huge opportunities the moment you turn 30. This doesn’t happen to women or people of colour.”

None of the senior female designers we spoke to were approached to interview for the position, nor were any of their female peers, even though their experience and skillset match (or exceed) those of Sean’s.

This is not unusual. With the interview process notoriously opaque, discrimination passes under the radar too. Women don’t seem to be considered for these positions as often as men. When they do find an opportunity to apply, it’s because they grabbed it with their own hands. “I’ve had four interviews for creative director roles. It’s fine not to get the role, but all of the interviews I got because I heard about it through someone and reached out. It was not a process open to people in the field,” one head of design shared.

Out of 38 creative directors hired by Kering since 1995, five have been women. That’s 13%.