- 2 months ago
Dominique Drakeford and Brandice Daniel talks about bridging the gap between black designers and brands.
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00:00I just started on Wednesday so I'm here. Today we're going to be talking about fashion and since we're at a festival I think fashion is so important in festival culture. But the twist on today we're going to be talking about fashion and sustainability. So I'm going to have my two panelists join me on stage. Brandis Daniel and Dominique Drakeford.
00:30We're also waiting on one panelist who's on the way so we're going to get the conversation started and we have baby with us. She's giving me baby fever. How are you guys today? Good. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to have this conversation. Fashion sustainability is really important in my writing so I
00:59can't wait to talk about it more in depth with the three of you. So Brandis I know you've been able to bridge the gap like the fashion gap between you know black designers and just kind of sharing them with our community. Can we talk about Harlem Fashion Row a little bit like just tell everyone what it is and why you started it.
01:23Yeah so Harlem Fashion Row is a premier agency based in New York City and we act as a bridge between designers of color and brands. So we do that through events that we throw throughout the year. We also do that through brand collaborations through pipeline programs with HBCU fashion departments and with brand strategy.
01:43And so we're actually in the middle of a pivot right now because so many consumers want to shop black brands. I think in 2020 we realized that if we want to elevate we are the ones who have to help each other elevate.
02:01And so a shift started to happen in how we as a people shop. And so with that we're thinking about more now about how do we create more opportunities and experiences for the consumer who actually wants to support black and brown designers.
02:16That's so important. I love that you're doing that.
02:19And then Dominique Drakeford. How are you?
02:21I'm doing well. And yourself?
02:23I'm doing well too. So can you share with the audience a little bit about what it is that you do as Sustainable BK?
02:31Yeah, absolutely. My name is Dominique Drakeford from Oakland, California, but I reside in the streets of Brooklyn at the moment.
02:39And I am a non-traditional educator. I'm an impact influencer. I'm a writer and I am the co-founder of an organization called Sustainable Brooklyn.
02:50And essentially I exist to disrupt the whitewashing of sustainability and sort of transform our thinking into what sustainable fashion looks like, what it feels like,
03:07and be a presence and voice for black folks in the sustainability space so that we can reclaim sustainability throughout fashion,
03:15but also in wellness and beauty and in all things that we embody.
03:20So amazing. And I feel like creating Harlem Fashion Row is a form of activism on its own.
03:28How, what are you doing to close the divide and other, like how else are you closing the divide?
03:35Yeah, when I first started Harlem's Fashion Row, nobody wanted to talk about recent fashion.
03:40And I always say it wasn't just like the white fashion industry. No one wanted to have the conversation because no one wanted to be pigeonholed, right?
03:49So it was tough. There were many times that I was challenged to my face, like, why are you supporting black designers?
03:55Why does it have to be all about black? And why can't it be like more, they would say, why don't you just open it up to all emerging designers?
04:02I got that for the first 10 years of HFR. And so it was, it was not easy to stick to, to that vision.
04:10But at the time when I started it, I realized that we, as a people were spending $22 billion a year in apparel.
04:17By the way, that's increasing to $70 billion by the year 2030.
04:21But we represented less than 1% of the designers that were in major department stores.
04:27But that was where we were spending our money. And I couldn't let that go.
04:31And so it's been like this uphill battle for 10 years.
04:36And now I feel like the industry has caught up to what we're doing.
04:40And so that's nice.
04:42But it is so much more work that we have to do because designers still need access to capital.
04:49They, there's the HBCU fashion departments who we all support, still need access to capital.
04:55They need really great professors who understand the industry.
04:58So one of the things that we've done, we created Icon 360, which is our nonprofit, to give money to black designers.
05:04And also to give money to HBCU fashion departments.
05:07And so we've been able to give about $1.2 million to black designers.
05:11And $1.1 million to HBCU fashion departments that have been ignored for years.
05:18Wow, that's, that's amazing.
05:19And I want to ask both of you because something in my writing that I always ask designers is what does sustainability mean to you?
05:29Because I feel like, you know, it's, it's, it can be one of those marketing words.
05:35And I just like kind of want to understand what sustainability is to the both of you.
05:39Okay, so let me be very transparent.
05:46I have been in the traditional sustainability space for like 15 years before it was cool, before it was trendy, before it was a thing.
05:54And it did not take me long to realize that sustainability is synonymous with blackness and brownness.
06:03Sustainability inherently is rooted in the DNA of how we connect with the earth, how we connect with each other.
06:12It's synonymous with quote unquote ghetto.
06:15It's synonymous with repurposing and upcycling.
06:18It's synonymous with community building.
06:21It's synonymous with activism.
06:24It's synonymous with all things that, that we don't traditionally think because we've been programmed and there's been propaganda for us to not understand, you know, sustainability.
06:37But sustainability is everything from, you know, the, the plastic bag that, that we keep and reuse to condition our hair.
06:46Sustainability is everything from you supporting your friend's business because she's reworking jewelry in her, in her Brooklyn basement.
06:54Sustainability is the, the work that Abrima is doing in Ghana connecting with artisans and having a circular supply chain, a very transparent supply chain from, from Brooklyn all the way out of the country.
07:10Sustainability is literally, sustainability is literally, we eat, sleep, and breathe sustainability.
07:15And if, if, if y'all don't leave here knowing this, know that black folks are inherently sustainable and we have to unlearn a lot of the bullshit that we've been taught about sustainability.
07:28Sustainability, the hair butters we make, right, the, the, I mean, the shea butters we make, the things that we're putting in our hair, how we adorn ourselves when we're walking down the street and, and just taking up space.
07:40Our ancestors, the farm work that we do, like, it's, it's embedded in so much of who we are.
07:48And, and, and I don't know, this isn't clearly a definition, but just knowing that sustainability encompasses this 360 super dynamic apparatus of, of who we are and how we take up space.
08:01Yeah, no, that was, that was an amazing answer.
08:03It was not a dictionary definition.
08:04Well, I don't think that sustainability, no, I think that's important.
08:09That's important because sustainability is not one thing.
08:12And we overcomplicate it, right?
08:13As you were talking, I was thinking, how many things do we throw away in our closet because the hem came out?
08:19Absolutely.
08:19Because the button came off?
08:20Yeah.
08:21Because the zipper don't work?
08:22Yep.
08:22Like, and, and doing, just going to get those things fixed.
08:26And we used to have our grandparents who were spent for us.
08:29Absolutely.
08:30Or we would know how to do it, but that's being sustainable.
08:33Absolutely.
08:33Little things like that is being sustainable, we do it daily, and, and we don't even realize it.
08:38Exactly, we don't realize it.
08:39I feel like another, like, community is a part of sustainability.
08:44I have a community collective with a friend of mine, and we really, we do stoop sales,
08:50and we have our friends bring their clothes from their closet and get rid of them, like,
08:54selling them on the street.
08:55Or we work with local brands and, like, basically, you know, bringing in an audience that might
09:00not know, oh, my friend, this person reworking clothes, like, this is a form of sustainability
09:05as well.
09:06Absolutely.
09:07So, I loved your answer.
09:09Yeah, shop and swap.
09:11Secondhand, thrifty, vintage.
09:12Secondhand, exactly.
09:13All of that.
09:14Exactly.
09:18For you, did you have something else to say?
09:19No?
09:20Okay.
09:20Amazing.
09:21So, what do you, how do you want to, you know, educate our community more on what you
09:31just said?
09:32Sustainability is, like, what we do every day.
09:35Like, are there resources that people can look into?
09:38Like, how, how are you, like, how are you sustaining this pure approach to what you're
09:45talking about in your messaging for Sustainable BK and also HFR?
09:52We're just starting a conversation.
09:54I will tell you, I am not an expert in sustainability, but I know that it is probably one of the most
10:00important conversations we can have right now in fashion.
10:02I have a seven-year-old, and I think about what kind of world she's going to inherit.
10:06You know, a lot of us in here got kids.
10:09And so, if we're not talking about sustainability, we're literally not thinking about how our
10:14kids are going to be able to live in this earth, our grandkids, our great-grandkids.
10:18So, for us, it's like, how do we start the conversation?
10:21We actually had an intern two years ago.
10:25Actually, she was a junior person on our team who said, why are we not doing the Sustainability
10:28Summit?
10:29And so, we launched it from that because of her suggestion.
10:33And so, we're in this place of, like, how do we just make sure that it is on the minds
10:38of everyone?
10:39For me, personally, one of the things that I've been trying not to do is not buy any fabric
10:43that's not sustainable.
10:45So, how do I make sure that everything in my closet is a natural fiber that can actually
10:50be recycled and be reworked?
10:52It goes into understanding what material we should be wearing, what material.
10:59Because once it goes back to having the resources to, like, oh, there's more research that goes
11:06into, really, this product, this fabric, it's not exactly aligned with the messaging of sustainability.
11:13So, how do you, what's your go-to for, like, doing that research?
11:18Yeah, for me, I'm just looking at the natural fibers.
11:20So, anything I get from Abrima, I know it's, like, going to be 100% cotton.
11:24Yeah.
11:25The outfit I have on right now is from K. Malayla, 100% silk.
11:29Yeah.
11:29So, I just, I'm like, if I can just stick with, like, pure fabrics, that's my thing.
11:35But the other piece of it I was going to say is, I don't think you could talk about sustainability
11:38without talking about everybody else.
11:40Yeah, that's why I just have to say, I think technology does not allow us to be so much
11:45more sustainable.
11:45Because right now, when designers go to make a collection, they have to get all those items
11:49sampled.
11:50Technology keeps all of that from happening.
11:53And so, I think that it's, for me, when I think about it, I think that it is, like,
11:58synonymous, right?
12:00That they go together.
12:01Yes, yes.
12:02And then we have Nico joining us on stage.
12:05Welcome, Nico.
12:06Welcome, Nico.
12:09The baby.
12:11The baby.
12:14Also.
12:19Hello.
12:20I love this look.
12:22It's amazing.
12:24God is amazing.
12:25You know?
12:27Check.
12:28It is.
12:30What's up, Afropunk?
12:32No, no, no, no, no, no.
12:34Y'all ain't from India from the continent.
12:35Y'all better act like y'all know.
12:38What's up, Afropunk?
12:40All right.
12:41All right.
12:42Well, we got this little glossy runway.
12:43Let me not just say I'm here.
12:45You might have to do a runway walk for us a little bit later.
12:48Good morning.
12:48Good morning.
12:49So, we've been talking about fashion and sustainability and how sustainability can look so different
12:56to everyone.
12:57And I just kind of want to pick your brain on fashion and sustainability, specifically to Uncle Clifford.
13:07Oopsie.
13:07See Uncle Clifford.
13:09I don't hear it on one side.
13:17I hear it on this side.
13:23You're hearing it on one side only?
13:24It's a part of sustainability.
13:25Yeah, and we're seeing it on both sides.
13:27So, could you, like, just share with us what it feels like to embody a character who has
13:34that creative freedom and is able to sustain that, like, throughout his career?
13:40Can we test it out?
13:41Sure.
13:42Okay.
13:43Yeah.
13:44Maybe it is my headphones, but it just dropped one side again.
13:47Maybe it is.
13:48Yeah, if you're getting it at all, because I'm sending you a mono signal.
13:53So, if you're getting it at all, then you're getting it clean for me.
13:56Okay, perfect.
13:57That's all.
13:58Okay.
13:59As long as I'm good.
14:00Okay.
14:01And so, from that phase, she really wanted to amplify members of the LGBTQ community.
14:09and their vibes that they come prepared in the non-violent race.
14:14And it was one of those things that I used to have issues, like, you know, real talk, I'm
14:21from Detroit.
14:22So, if you're from the neighborhood, I'm like, oh, my God.
14:26They found out there.
14:27So, like, I come from a world that is retro and yesterday year as today.
14:35So, I never, I thought my platform honestly was just like my brand name.
14:39Like, you know what I mean?
14:40It wasn't nothing to talk about.
14:41So, like, when I rocked these, she was like, you know what I mean?
14:44What the brand name I used to wear?
14:45Like, you know what I mean?
14:46You know what I mean?
14:47Like, little things like that that I used to hold on to.
14:50But, I remember there would be times when we would just leave.
14:54Like, our shoes and our feet are not in the shops.
14:57And I would be like, ooh, man, can I take off these stilettos?
15:00Let me, you know, get a flip flop or something.
15:03Yeah.
15:04And Katori would say no.
15:06And she said because it would always change the frame that the characters that you would see on screen.
15:11And one of the intentions was definitely to have masculine men have to look up to femininity.
15:18Which is something that they don't do necessarily in life.
15:21Oftentimes, masculinity looks down upon femininity.
15:25So, she was exploring a lot of social constructs through the wardrobe, through the fashion.
15:31There were things like, she was like, don't shave your chest.
15:33Because I want to see the hair.
15:35And then, you know, I'm a full figure brother.
15:37But, you know, some folks would be like, well, what's going on with your body?
15:39I'm like, it's all love.
15:41This is all good for the pushing, baby.
15:43Yes.
15:44You understand what I mean?
15:45So, like, to be in a space where just even in your body, when you can embrace all of that.
15:51And playing Uncle Clifford, whether that's in wardrobe, whether that's in body types, it was something that allowed me to embrace all of my sun rays.
16:01And all of the things that folks love in the dark.
16:04I ain't never had nobody complain about my sun rays or tiger stripes.
16:07You understand what I'm saying?
16:08Yes.
16:09And if you really know, you know.
16:11You understand.
16:12You understand.
16:13And if you lack a little bone every now and again, it's okay.
16:15You can get your marrow in another place.
16:17But I feel like through exploring the creativity and the fashion and looks and stuff like that, it was just boundless.
16:26So for me in my real life now, I mean, I always kind of had that.
16:30I was never, my mom is a full figure woman.
16:33And she taught me to embrace my chocolate and my sickness and all that kind of stuff.
16:38So like color was never something that I shied away from.
16:42Yeah.
16:43But being in the role, it makes me, it makes me more conscious and intentional like with how I dress that day because it's about what I want to experience.
16:53It's what I want to experience.
16:55It's also what I want people to experience.
16:58I know I'm coming to Essence Fest.
17:00Niko don't dress like this every day.
17:02You know what I'm saying?
17:03I'm usually in some jeans and a hoodie.
17:05Just because everything else is always so much.
17:08Yeah.
17:09I appreciate a good slide and a fitted cap.
17:12You understand what I mean?
17:13Of course.
17:14We love a basic.
17:15Yeah, yeah.
17:16You know, you're looking gorgeous, got these cocoa legs and stuff.
17:17Thank you, thank you.
17:18I love a uniform.
17:19I'm just saying, but it's not, it's always that test of if you can't look cute in your jogging pants, your sweats and a t-shirt, then you ain't cute.
17:28You understand what I'm saying?
17:29It always comes inside out.
17:31So yeah.
17:34I know.
17:35Dominique, I know I didn't get your answer on the how do you stay true and like your purest self in your practice of sustainability.
17:48How do I stay true?
17:49I mean, look at me.
17:50I'm on stage with my newborn.
17:51I know, I know.
17:52I don't know if it gets more authentic and real than this and I feel like that's the heartbeat of sustainability too, especially when it comes to our culture.
18:01I mean, sustainability is, there's so much rooted in self and community and the reality, the realism of authenticity.
18:10Um, and so it, it's, it's easy and I'm a Leo and from Oakland.
18:15Okay.
18:16So let's get, you know, um, but yeah, I, I have, I'll let you go.
18:23I can go on and on and on, but the, to, it's pretty simple to, to be true to myself and to connect with community members who are doing the same.
18:35And the sustainability, the sustainable fashion space is so dope and so vast.
18:40Yes.
18:41You have everything from natural dyed garments to upcycled and thrifted, uh, threads.
18:48You have, you know, you have vintage, you have folks who are spiritually connected to the soil.
18:53You have folks who are deep in hip hop culture, all of that.
18:57There, there's so many people in the tribe of sustainability and sustainable fashion that it becomes very easy to, to feel authentic, feel represented, feel loved, and to continue that, uh, on this journey.
19:11I know.
19:12I think it's sustainability is something that as a community, we are like welcome in that space.
19:17And like the more people that we see in the space and inviting our community in, I feel like once you, once you think you said it, sustainability, we are sustainability as a community.
19:28And let me just, not to cut you off.
19:30It's not a space that we need to be welcomed to.
19:33Let's be clear.
19:34It's not like we're having a seat at the table.
19:36We created the fucking table.
19:37Exactly.
19:38Very clear.
19:39Yeah.
19:40And so with a lot of the work that I'm doing, it's again, affirming the fact that we created this shit.
19:46And that's why it's so important for us to come together, to connect, to create this intercommunal network of dopeness across sustainability and know that it's not monolithic.
19:57You know that it has so much shape and, and sparkle and colors and texture.
20:05Right.
20:06And so, um, yeah, the, the sustainability space and the sustainable fashion space in general is, it's, it's looking a lot different these days than when I started 15 years ago, which is really dope.
20:17And I, I just love the fact that we are taking up space and creating collective community, um, around it.
20:24And just like, you know, Brandis and, and Harlem Fashion Row, folks are, are learning about it as we go and creating space and continuing to build and connect with one another.
20:34And that's what it's all about.
20:36Um, we're about to wrap up.
20:38I just want to ask you guys, is there anything that you have coming up that you want to share with the audience?
20:44Well, so y'all don't be asking all doggone day.
20:50There's a season three coming.
20:52There absolutely is a season three of P Valley that is coming.
20:57And there is another project that I'm in the midst of right now that I was literally just coming from.
21:02And that is called down in the valley.
21:04Okay.
21:05And down in the valley is a real life docuseries that goes into the real pockets because everybody thinks like, oh, there's no such place like P.
21:13Valley, not realizing that it stands for Pussy Valley, which is a housing development in Memphis, as is Hurt Village.
21:21Everything that you see in that show is rooted in truth and documentary.
21:25But I said, let me go into the real places and see the real faces and real people that reflect this culture.
21:32Because it was something for me as a creator that was, it was shocking to me that people online and in comments were like,
21:40oh, well, that's cute, but I don't know.
21:42And I couldn't.
21:43And I'm like, you couldn't what?
21:45They not realizing literally some of Uncle Clifford's clothes, fashions.
21:50I saw at Essence Fest two years ago and I would stop and say, where'd you get that hat?
21:55The hat from the funeral in season one came from here.
21:59The purse on Clifford's purse, that little basketball round thing got from the flea market.
22:05Because I asked the success, I said, where'd you get that?
22:07Boom.
22:08So for me and I think the creatives on this show, it's about reflecting our real culture.
22:13And like you're saying, eradicating this shame around or thinking that you have to be something other than you are.
22:21You understand what I mean?
22:23Everybody knows you put a little water on the brush and it goes through a little bit better.
22:28You understand what I mean?
22:30Sustainable.
22:31Sustainable.
22:32Exactly.
22:33And like, for me, the world that we're living in, there's too much.
22:38There's so many people that's trying to tell you you cannot and that you are not enough.
22:43How dare you join that choir?
22:45How dare you join that choir when you come from a people that sing a song without words and you understand it?
22:53You understand it and you don't even speak that language.
22:57So like our fashion and our looks and our, our creativity, our church, it's everything.
23:03We give it three, four different styles up here.
23:05You know what I mean?
23:06And I just feel like it's time to.
23:21It's not you, but I see it on my camera.
23:24My channel two sets out.
23:27What am I working on?
23:28I'm working on several different projects and activations.
23:31Like right now the two is out.
23:35It's not.
23:36It's not.
23:37But I'm working on a book that's focused on classes and sustainability.
23:42Not just people of color.
23:44It's very important.
23:46It's rooted in the African diaspora.
23:48It's rooted in Afro-Indigeneity.
23:50It's rooted in hip-hop culture.
23:52It's rooted in hip-hop culture so that we can understand sustainability that we weren't taught in the mainstream space and in traditional institutions.
24:04So I'm working on that book while simultaneously working on somewhat of a podcast so that I can interview black designers, black farmers, black, all black folks across the different sustainability industries so that that narrative can be completely changed.
24:23I want to decolonize sustainability and I want us to again reaffirm and rebuild sustainability in our DNA so that we can be liberated in a very different way.
24:35with sustainability being the problem of how we walk and talk and dance.
24:40We actually launched a book in January that we're still promoting.
24:50When I look back at the history part of my hobby is researching black designers throughout art.
24:57There is only one book that captures up in our contribution to fashion.
25:03It's called Blacks in the History of Fashion.
25:05Written by Lloyd C. Alexander Lane who is founder of the Harlem Institute of Fashion and the Black Fashion Union.
25:13And because of her, some of our history doesn't have grown.
25:17That book was written in 1982.
25:20There has not been a book out like that since then.
25:23And so it's great to put things on the internet.
25:25Yeah, it dropped out.
25:26We needed something physical that would be registered with the Library of Congress that preserved who we were
25:32in this industry.
25:33And so we launched volume one of that book.
25:35It's called Fashion and Color.
25:37You can get it at fashionandcolorbook.com.
25:39But it's called Fashion and Color.
25:41And we, from A to C, we basically lay out as a designer for every single letter.
25:46Olivier Rustin, who is the creative director at Balmain, wrote the four words for that book.
25:51We dedicated some books on a 15th anniversary.
25:53It's hip-hop.
25:54You can know anything about Source Magazine.
25:56We gave five likes for Missy Nielsen and Dapper Dan at the very beginning of the book.
26:01And then it tells a little bit about our journey in the back.
26:03But we have to, I love that you write this book because we have to be the ones who tell our own story.
26:08And make sure that our history is known.
26:11And just like that, we have to go.
26:13But to know that sustainability, like some of the facts is not decided.
26:16It's very much connected with so many other things.
26:20Again, that's the problem.
26:22You want to make sure that it's more connected to the dance.
26:25It's all connected.
26:26So having that ecosystem, understanding of that ecosystem, not just sustainable facts, is all connected.
26:33So I want to thank all of you for coming out and talking about fun and sustainability in all of your lives.
26:40We're not even going to call you.
26:42And we're wrapping, so thank you.
27:03we're wrapping some up and looking at the juegos.
27:07We're bringing their friends.
27:14We're wrapping, then we're justisión.
27:29We're proteas Corner mình Web skills.
27:31We're trying our allowable toим your spot first.
27:32Yeah, but that's okay, but look, yo, you're fine, but two is dropped, two is gone.
27:38It's stay gone, buddy.
27:39It's just gone now.
27:40Yeah, it's gone now.
27:42Yeah, two.
27:44Let's take a look.
28:02Let's take a look.
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