- 2 days ago
Supporting Black luxury can't just be a hashtag. It's time to redefine the narrative and confront our selective loyalty to non-Black designer brands as a culture."
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00:00you know smart water found a smart way to do water what else can we make smart what about
00:16adding water to your beauty routine that'd be smart keep it smart
00:23i think a big part of working smarter and not working harder is not just depending on yourself
00:36depending on the resources around you the people around you letting go of just like feeling like
00:40you always got to do everything on your own remove all self-doubt like don't be in a space of fear
00:47once you go and you step into who you are and you realize that this is what you're supposed to be
00:51doing it kind of falls into place
00:53what's up essence fashion house
01:17how y'all feeling y'all still doing good i hope y'all are having as much fun as i'm having today
01:25can you tell i'm having fun i'm having a really good day i'm really excited for us to get into
01:30this next panel i think we've saved some of the best conversations for the last and i love you
01:35guys for sticking around all day give it up for yourselves for being an incredible audience
01:39now we're just about ready to get into that final panel of the day and i like i said i've been
01:45looking forward to this one by a show of hands how many people in the building shop black luxury
01:51brands and don't be lying either well you know it's such an exciting time right now for designers
02:00but sometimes i think that black luxury brands don't feel the love from us as consumers and i feel
02:07like we need to have a conversation and get down to the root of that so we're going to do just that
02:12right now and i'm so excited so joining us to have that conversation please welcome author
02:19media icon cultural storyteller and former essence beauty director mickey taylor
02:26this is a legend right here y'all i gotta make sure if you get up here okay period
02:45next we have mcmullin founder and ceo sherry mcmullin
02:56hey sherry hey girl hey it's a dress for me it's a dress for me a little commotion for the dress
03:10and last but certainly not least we have tia adiola women's wear founder and ceo tia adiola
03:20come through queen
03:24i told y'all we were saving some of the best for last
03:29you guys enjoy the panel
03:32oh y'all do that again that sounds good love this energy oh yeah oh yeah well i gotta tell you all i
03:41am so thrilled to join you for this time of power the power of us that all by itself like they say
03:49that part but we are the originators the fashion revolution that's seen heard and copied around
03:55the world and i want you all to give your fabulous selves a hand because you all are living proof that
04:01no one does it like us tonight i have the joy of closing out by leading a transparent conversation
04:09we're going to get it real this is going to be the kitchen table talk on style we're going to talk
04:14about how we regard and support black luxury brands as a black community and i'm so honored to be
04:20joined by you all i mean this what you all have done i just need to tell you all who you're talking
04:26to because i like to know who's at the table so first i got to tell you miss tia here uh yes
04:34miss tia started her self-titled clothing line in her dorm room in 2016 now today she solidified the
04:42brand's position in the luxury space gained the attention of the international press and produced
04:48her first fashion film thank you very much titled black is beautiful and it was nominated in five
04:55categories at the 2021 international fashion film awards that's miss tia adio
05:04all right now and miss sherry mcmullen is an experienced retail buyer who spent 15 years building
05:10a platform to support designers of color and advocate for diversity and inclusion in the fashion world
05:17today her namesake store in oakland california has become the destination for the black luxury
05:24shopping experience and emerging black and brown designers miss sherry mcmullen now that we know who
05:31we're talking to i want to ask you all the first question i have to ask the terms black and luxury
05:39haven't always been as synonymous as we know them to be with that in mind i want to start by talking
05:45about the evolution of black luxury from each of our perspectives based on our personal journeys
05:52and i can tell you for me it's the privilege of wearing and dwelling in art both on my body in my home
05:59in my every experience because i know the vision that came from their soul space as i like to call it so
06:06that's a luxury to me what say each of you
06:13i mean when i think about black black is synonymous with luxury right so i don't necessarily separate the
06:22two um when i started my business mcmullen 16 years ago i found that there was a void in the market right
06:31i had spent years doing buying with these big companies and corporations and i was like i want
06:38to create something for myself in my city that i lived in oakland and what i found is that these
06:46big box retailers did not have black and brown designers on their shelf right but we know that black
06:54designers and creatives exist because we create so much right and so you find that so many designers
07:03are looking at black culture black people everything that we do and they're inspired by us and what i
07:12found is that they weren't necessarily giving us the credit that we deserve and also not the opportunities
07:21that we deserve so when i created mcmullen i said this is going to be the place where i find designers
07:29from all over the world that look like me and look like us and i'm going to create a space for us and
07:38that's to me is luxury right right that is that that's us well the luxury of even creating a space for us
07:47yeah you know it just amazes me how we are so seen heard and copied and yet we remain invisible that
07:56makes no sense to me so so we have to change the conversation i'm always saying every day we got
08:01to correct the narrative yeah tia what about you what's your experience um sorry guys i'm a bit nervous
08:09don't be nervous this is just us right you all show me your love
08:16um so i come from a country named nigeria yeah africa and you know africa is royalty
08:29and so growing up there being raised on that knowing that when i had the opportunity to
08:36enter into the western world so to speak um i wanted to sort of take my beliefs and spread them um
08:48so just with everything i do um from the setting to the cost to the apparel everything just for me
09:00represents black luxury sort of creating my own black renaissance world and spreading it um as sherry
09:09mentioned there aren't many like me um and so i take this duty very seriously and i feel like i'm here to
09:18continue to push and knock on those doors and um just try to open up the space for the people coming
09:25after me yeah yeah and you know listen if we don't do it who will we're going to normalize this thing
09:31known as black luxury right yeah we're going to normalize that success so you know in a time where
09:38there are several high profile black luxury brands that are extremely popular in black culture there still
09:46seems to be this perception in our community that non-black owned luxury brands are somehow better
09:54the white ice is colder is the theory these days and i just want to ask you all why do you think that
10:01is and how do we eliminate that perception as a collective i mean
10:10for one i i don't agree that they're better um i think that they just they sort of have the
10:19infrastructure they have the funding they have the backing that we don't necessarily have and somehow
10:28we still manage to sort of strive and like excel um so i think it's i think the problem is bigger than
10:38um us yeah yeah yeah but but so we have to insert ourselves in the challenge though so
10:45so how do we change that yeah and and that that's the that's what i'm looking at how we can change
10:52that sherry i mean i do think that collectively as black people are are spending right our spending power
11:02is something like 2.3 trillion dollars right so think about if we take a portion a good portion of that
11:12spending and spend that with black owned brands and what that means for black businesses
11:19right and just thinking about just in my everyday life you know whether it's fashion it's my home
11:28consumer goods my lifestyle i'm looking for brands that are by people underrepresented people so whether
11:35it's female brands female designers female entrepreneurs black women black people
11:43i'm going to open that door if i can because we have started at a deficit let's be honest like that
11:52we are not the ones getting the bc funding we're not the ones who's getting the loans at the bank
12:03and i know firsthand because that was my experience when i started i had you know what i thought was
12:10all of the things that they were looking for and i was turned down so how do we knowing that not so
12:18many not all the doors are open for us how do we create doors for each other and being able to support
12:24one another it would be wonderful there were more bc black businesses more black owned banks
12:33so i think that's how we start to think about our spending power and what that means because when
12:40we stop spending with brands and people that don't align with our values that's when people are going
12:46to listen and say oh like what you know right what happened what happened because if we pulled out the
12:51bottom would fall out that's right yeah that's right and so i think there's a responsibility on our
12:57every breath on our every dollar you know we're sitting in seats at the ancestors paid for so how
13:04are we owning them right right right so nobody and and you all have heard me say this in the time of
13:10essence doc how many of y'all have seen the time of essence doc come on now all right now y'all know where
13:17you're going tonight right paul's so-and-so say when i hang out tonight we're hanging out at my house
13:22watching time of essence because this is the stuff you need to know but the reality of it is you know
13:28i had an advertiser say to me years ago a potential advertiser she came in late from the rain no umbrella
13:35anyway yeah she did but i left the door before she said well we don't have to advertise in essence
13:42because sex sells and i'm like what you won't do on our watches take our dollars for granted
13:48so you see so again you have to remember that don't let anyone take your dollars for granted
13:54because they take for granted every dollar that your elders work for when they take you for granted
14:01don't let that be true on your watch okay i'm going off script so tia i'm on back as a successful
14:09designer what are some of the hurdles you still face within your own community when it comes to
14:14support and what do you want to say to us tonight about being the change and i know that's a loaded
14:20question but again this is a kitchen table talk so you can speak freely um i honestly have no complaints
14:31in terms of receiving support from my community just even right now it's fashion week um i've had the
14:41same makeup team doing my runway show for years black woman i've had the same hair team doing my hair for
14:47years black woman i've had the same casting director for years black woman i've had the same show producer for
14:54years black woman and they were sending emails and messages as early as june being like what are we
15:05doing for fashion week when do you need us you know so um my community shows up for me which i'm really
15:13grateful for um my customers are predominantly black women um no complaints about my community
15:22but it's you know the corporations that we have companies about yeah yeah yeah and what do you
15:29think they miss the corporations oh gosh um yeah i know we need a night for that yeah so the corporations
15:39i mean they they love to see the shows you know they're like when's your show when's your show but
15:45they don't want to give you the funding to produce the show um they don't give you the backing um to
15:52to produce the show or whatever it is um that you're doing really you sort of just get like a pat on the
15:59back and like hey go do it we'll watch you know and i've noticed that um i've received the most support
16:08from corporations when tragedy happens within our community so you know not to get too deep but i
16:18probably received the most support um that i ever received in terms of brand collaborations partnerships
16:26just everything after the unfortunate loss of george floyd um which it's it's unfortunate it's you know
16:34it's a pattern it's slightly performative in my opinion so that's my take yeah yeah yeah that's real
16:44that's real everybody you know in tragedy it seems that corporations sometimes they get this call to
16:51consciousness and then after a few months or someone's like hi we're all good you're good we're
16:57good we did our part no we have to keep holding them accountable sherry what have you experienced what
17:02are some of the hurdles that you continue to face in your business i think the biggest challenge for
17:08me has been financing my business as an independently owned business owner um as i mentioned before in
17:18the very beginning you know getting turned down by banks we we eventually found a banker and supporters
17:24but it took years i mean i'm 16 years in and it took me 15 years really to get the the
17:32type of investment in the company that we really needed to scale and grow um but you know we do
17:38what we have to do right for me like i didn't have a fallback plan like i could have done something else
17:44but there was no other option for me like this this this is what i love you know this is what i have
17:51built with my team and for me there was no other option so i was going to make it work
17:58the best that i could and many times we do that but i want to say to like you know some of the
18:03corporations we were talking about how they could lend more support many times they just need to see
18:10numbers right i'm like a business person and black owned businesses are just good for business truly
18:20like you know even just like my sales numbers my top selling brands are black owned brands this is
18:29christopher john rogers he's our number one designer right you know he he you know sells out consistently
18:37highest margins most profitable and i can go on and on about so many of the brands ashlyn camps dio tima
18:44you know harwell godfrey kairi could go on and on those are the brands that are in the highest demand
18:51and not necessarily from black consumers from everyone so i think the more we you know normalize
18:59right like we wear it in life yeah you know yeah then it just becomes this normal thing for everyone
19:07every single day of my life i wear a black designer yeah and thankfully we have those options
19:16and we have you know amazing designers that you can find at stores or you can find on their websites or
19:24thankfully on social media whether it's tick tock or instagram but seek out those brands ask your
19:30you know ask your girl ask your friends what do you have on girl what's this bag you know this is
19:35east african designer she came to me i'm like yeah i'm gonna put you in my store because your
19:40shit is hot like it works and so you know the more we just are right we just we share we wear things
19:50you know it it becomes normalized yeah right yeah normalizing this is what we must do yeah so i have
20:00a question for you and i'm sure the audience wants to know and i have a couple of more selfish questions
20:05before we go to the audience but how do you curate the designers that are under this amazing destination
20:12and do you think that we're more likely to buy black more often because you make the access easy
20:22i'll answer the second one first the answer is yes right you know mcmullen provides a space a place for
20:31black and brown designers for female designers you know over 40 percent of our shelf space is dedicated
20:37to black designers and that's growing and that keeps growing year over year female designers are
20:4287 percent of our mix exclusive designers or certain so that to me is important um and i always say
20:50that what we do goes way beyond just the sales the clothes on the racks right we are creating opportunities
20:57for others like i i if i buy a brand i really believe in the brand and i'm not going to do it always
21:06right off the bat but when it feels right for my business i will bring you in and i'm going to
21:12mentor i'm going to invest in you and for me making sure that those designers are going to be here five
21:19years 10 years 12 years because a lot of the brands that we have in the store have been around for
21:2620 some years and we've been carrying them for 16 15 years but we don't see that enough with
21:32black and brown designers but we have to change that and a part of it is investing in and believing in
21:39but we also know the challenges that we face with production with lack of resources financing number
21:50one that's like the biggest thing we all know that so let's continue to have conversations about how we
21:57can do more be open about money black community we don't talk about money enough we really don't and
22:05there's no reason why we shouldn't talk about how to get it how to invest in it right and how to keep
22:12it and keep it going and keeping it within our community like how amazing is that to like be able
22:19to go into your closet and pull out five you know black designers and wear them in your everyday life you know
22:29that's right that's really beautiful oh my god oh my god and how do you curate how do i curate um i
22:38i look for designers outside of just the normal places of new york paris london and milan number one
22:46and that's like people are always like where do you find designers i'm like well you can probably find
22:51designers in your own city like we have an amazing art school in oakland um arts academy in oakland
22:57um hbcus um you know they're they're all around you really they're not going to always be in you
23:07know the very expensive new york and in california and la so i you know i look for them um in different
23:15places yeah yeah i love that i mean you're like an archaeologist to me i just love you know you dig deep
23:23and you go and you just yeah you support us and you bring us in and you put us in the spotlight and
23:29and and and if you could describe your customer how would you describe how would you describe your
23:35customer because you're a destination resource everybody comes to you with intentionality yeah and
23:42i buy with intention um what was the question again talk to me about this customer the customer
23:51take a picture for us yeah okay so our customer um i would say our customer is experimental our customer
24:00is not so much about the labels right like labels are what they are some people love them some people
24:06are just like hey i just want to find the cool stuff like you know they know that they're going
24:11to come to mcmullen and they're going to find the best of the best right so even if we have a similar
24:18designer that um another retailer may have like it could be a you know a match you know it could be any
24:24anyone our curation always going to be different because i'm looking for the best of it right so when i'm
24:34buying what i what ends up in my stores and my business is probably cut down by 35 percent
24:43because it's about curation and really thinking about your customer and so i just you know i know
24:49my customer and what they want and so i buy i buy for my customer that's great yeah that's great so let
24:55me ask you both this let's talk about some of the strides that that the community has made when we talk
25:01about buying black luxury brands i love saying that what are some positive changes you've each
25:07been proud to see over the past decade or so i'm proud that there are more designers that are showing
25:28black designers that are showing at fashion week um because i've been doing this for a long time and
25:35it wasn't always this way right right it wasn't always this way it was maybe one maybe um i think
25:43other places around the world have a ways to go but it's nice to see that in new york especially with
25:50organizations like cfda black and fashion council um are opening the doors raise raise fashion there's
25:58so many organizations now soon and we'll we have one on the way um that we'll announce soon but there's
26:05there's so many great organizations that will give space and opportunities for young designers to come in
26:11so i i love seeing that because i didn't see that 10 years ago no not at all not at all so that that
26:18you're right that has been an amazing change tia anything um i'm just gonna backpack on that all
26:24right um i agree i mean i think if you even just look at the new york fashion week calendar this season
26:34there's a few of us there's who decides war there's advisory there's you know luar there's head of state
26:42there's myself um so yeah i think i think there are a few of us um there's room for many many many
26:50more because the list is really long and i named what like five five people so there is still room
26:56but yeah definitely seeing us thriving at new york fashion week um and hopefully soon paris milan yes
27:05all of them every major city in the world that's right so now i'm going to turn it over to you all and
27:11we're going to take your questions and i really also as you all ask the questions if there's
27:16something that you're doing in your own life as an ally or an advocate for black designers to change
27:22the trajectory of what's really where we really need to be how we really going to close that gap
27:28please say so so i see a hand up in the middle of the two questions i need you to walk up to the
27:34front get your light get your moment this is streaming at home and i'm gonna give you this mic
27:41yes wow well look at you hi miss vicky all right now hi everybody um god bless i'm so happy to be in
27:50this room with all of you beautiful faces my question to you all
27:53for the camera okay oh boy um well first of all my name is tiffany salas tiffany shifani is what they
28:05call me i'm from north new jersey representing brink city yes you are yes i am miss vicky and um thank you
28:12so much for sharing your time so my first question is for miss tia um i am first of all infatuated with
28:21your look and also this christopher john rogers and is that marco hall your way it is of course it is
28:30okay for what you do in our community um and how you strive in the fashion community
28:38how would you say we can all come together collectively because that's that's what we
28:42need to do to really impact uh the industry as a whole in um the world essentially because
28:50we are the culture um i think for what i do specifically i think just um as sherry also
29:02mentioned earlier just like sort of buying um buying more black brands um my team two members of my team
29:11are right there hiring you know hiring um black people having your people around you as your team and your
29:20staff members um and even just like in terms of the bigger picture making sure that your casting is
29:29us um makeup is us hair is us photo is us video is us everything is us um yeah
29:38thank you so much and then you can you repeat the question how do you feel we can all come together
29:45collectively because that's where the impact really lies yeah yeah i think just really being
29:52you know all of us just being intentional about our spending you know and and i think every dollar
29:57thinking about what that means and who we're spending with and does that business align with you know who
30:05we are the core of who we are and do we want to support those businesses right so i think just
30:10just generally support is like the you know one of the biggest things and no and also knowing what
30:17you're buying power means like you can vote with your dollars you know you can make a real impact you
30:25know i work hard for my dollars so i know you know where that money is going and i'm really intentional
30:32about my spending lovely thank you so much and for everyone who wants to know this is shefani another
30:38black owned brand thank you yes yes you better model all right now one more question yes
30:47one more question all right this with the come on up with the hat with the hat with the hat come on up
30:55step into your light ah in the front please come to the mic
31:07thank you do i have to introduce myself okay hi ladies or everyone my name is mayavani may i am a
31:16fashion stylist usually i'm a fashion assistant around this time but when it's not this time i'm a fashion
31:21stylist how are you guys hi ladies okay so um i'm not going to blame it on the writer's strike i'm
31:30just going to blame it on my own personal experience as a creative when you're in a drought period
31:34what helps you one be inspired and two once you get to that level of inspiration how do you use your
31:40village that way you can get to that vision that you're actually you know have in your mind
31:44um thank you when i'm in a drought what keeps me inspired is my friends and my community
31:58um so just i might be feeling really uninspired um and i'll meet with one of my friends and they'll be
32:07like hey have you seen this or like you should do this and then it just sparks something
32:12in me and my team um being open to advice and you know opinions suggestions i'm very much a learner
32:23um no matter how far i get i always have an open ear and a listening ear and ultimately that always
32:30um sparks something and helps me keep going thank you
32:34mary did you want to comment please do please okay what keeps me inspired um you know i'm a mom i
32:43have a i have a little one my son keeps me inspired every day because like pretty much everything that
32:49i do now is for it's for him because i want him to grow up and see he's been in the store with me since
32:57he was born he's traveled with me to markets and you know he he sees his mom working which is really
33:08important because he can see the value and ownership in what that looks like um because now at seven he's
33:16having conversations with me about mommy i want to open a store you know or he would take swatches when
33:23we were during um during the 2020 covet when we were away and we were looking at swatches instead of
33:32going to market so swatches like designers would send over fabric so i could buy that way so instead
33:39of like tossing the swatches my son frederick he would paint them and he would say do you think
33:47christopher will like this do you think peter would like this wow so he's in it and he knows so
33:53my son keeps me inspired thank you now to the b of my question sorry how do you guys use your
33:59village when you get to that level of inspiration i mean i'm surrounded by people that uh protect me
34:07uplift me you know my community my family my community in oakland um other business owners like
34:16we we talk we take care of one another and you know that also is um what keeps me going every day
34:28you know my faith yeah wow that's it so thank you you all have been amazing just amazing and i do want
34:36to say something i do want to answer your question uh about that period so-called waiting period you have
34:43to really know how to manage the gap between purpose and provision it is not a passive period
34:50you're really not waiting on anybody you should be busy as ever creating and planning for your next
34:55so it's not a waiting period and then the other part to keep going is you really have to surround
35:00yourself with what i call a celebration circle those are the people who check you pour into you tell you
35:06who you are when you forget yourself yeah because your greatness was not designed to be in isolation
35:12so yeah that's what we do in the meanwhile as they call love that yeah listen you all give it up for
35:17for tia and sherry this has been phenomenal thank you so much you all just keep doing what you do
35:25and we're going to change the conversation and normalize black luxury thank you so much
35:41so
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