'I want to make sure that people who have been oppressed, marginalized, and excluded systemically can feel safe and empowered by my work.' –rachaelxwang WhatIsFashionNow
by exploring the people, concepts, and ideas that are pushing the us forward in times of unprecedented change. In 2016, Rachael Wang took a trip to North Dakota to protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
She had been working in the fashion industry for 10 years as a stylist and fashion director for major publications in New York City:to name just a few. She was also an assistant to the iconic Edward Enninful during his tenure atWhen she was growing up as a person of mixed-race heritage, Wang didn’t see herself reflected in magazines and media. From the start of her career, she championed inclusivity in fashion — be it by ethnicity, size, or age. Racial justice was always an important part of Wang's work as a stylist, but there in the Dakotas, she had a moment of profound clarity: that environmental justice is intrinsically linked to racial justice. If we are to support sustainability, it must be done by supporting the fight for racial justice itself., and in 2017, she started her agency Rachael Wang Studio. Her styling and creative consulting work focuses on making fashion a more thoughtful industry, one that considers all the mechanisms behind the curtain — the labor, manufacturing, carbon footprint, and the casting.spoke with Wang about sustainability and inclusivity, how irreverence can be an act of resistance, and the ways she’s staying grounded during the pandemic.You are well-known for your advocacy of inclusive casting and sustainable fashion. How did you get involved in both of these movements?I wouldn’t say that creating with inclusivity in mind was a decision to get involved in a movement on my part, rather representation is an inherent part of the creation process for me. Growing up as a mixed-race little girl, I rarely saw myself represented in the movies I watched, the dolls I played with, or the books I read, so my work seeks to make up for that perpetual feeling of exclusion. For me, creating visuals has always and will always strive to be about representation with the goal of achieving racial equity. And, on an individual level, I want to make sure that people who have been oppressed, marginalized, and excluded systemically can feel safe and empowered by my work.In 2016 I traveled to North Dakota to stand in solidarity with the water protectors at Standing Rock against the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline on sacred native land. I’m embarrassed to say that it took me that long to be woken up to the truth about environmental racism. There I learned that we can’t discuss the environment without addressing environmental racism and that there can be no climate justice without social justice. Working in the fashion industry forces me to confront urgent issues like the climate crisis and social justice daily. And to me, advocating for sustainability through the lens of racial justice is simply a matter of human decency.before you launched your consulting agency Rachael Wang Studio. What lessons did you take from working at those brands to your new path as a business owner? What is the biggest challenge you face working for yourself?Everything I learned about the fashion industry came from the positions I held at Condé Nast. I literally did not know what a stylist or an art director was prior to an internship I did at. My big takeaways from over a decade spent as an editor are the power of appearance, the necessity of being able to work efficiently under pressure, the indispensable value of a professional network — and that it is helpful to know the rules in order to break the rules! I also learned that I could be most valuable to the industry as a free agent. The biggest challenge I face in working for myself is having to establish, promote, and uphold my own identity, as my identity is no longer tied up [with] the company I work for. I have to muster the confidence to promote myself to potential clients and uphold a great reputation so that I can continue to get hired. It is also deeply exhausting to constantly advocate for me and my team’s needs to be treated fairly in an industry that loves to exploit women of color.RW: There really isn’t much regularity as every day is different. Prior to quarantine, I traveled weekly to work with clients and for editorial and advertising photo shoots. My team often would prep from our Chinatown studio, whether that meant shopping or requesting clothing from New York and international showrooms. When I wasn’t shooting, depending on the season, my day could be spent building outfits for a fashion show, fitting models for an advertising campaign, or building an image redesign proposal for a brand. During quarantine, everything changed. Projects are random and inconsistent, shoots that involve more than five people are a rarity, and I feel it’s irresponsible to travel, as COVID-19 cases are still surging around the U.S. The global fashion industry has been hit very hard by the economic collapse and the disturbing number of deaths, so I think we will continue to be in a period of transition for a while.You’ve been in the fashion industry for a long time now. What was it like to be a young woman of color working at magazines? What changes have you seen over the course of your career?I didn’t have wealth or fame or a notable education to give me status when I entered the fashion industry, so I had to work extra hard to prove my value over and over again. Where many of my colleagues had the privilege of receiving financial support from their families, I had to work second and third jobs early in my career in order to compensate for the unsustainably low salaries that have been standardized in the magazine industry. Fashion, like most industries, has been made extremely profitable by exploiting the workers at the bottom, and magazines, with their scores of free intern labor and pitiful entry-level salaries, historically have been no different. It’s also worth acknowledging that it requires the privilege of generational wealth for a young person to be able to work at a full-time internship for no pay. The fashion industry’s tradition of requiring internship experience in order to even be considered for a paid position is and has been prohibitive for people from low-income backgrounds, mainly Black, Brown, and Indigenous people, which begins to illustrate in a more literal way the exclusive nature of the industry. As time went on, and interns filed lawsuits, magazines started changing their policies on free labor, but it takes time for the deeply ingrained classist, racist, fat-phobic, sexist, and ableist culture of an industry to change. As society is changing, I see the fashion industry changing, and I am watching with eagerness to see how it unfolds.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
‘The Best Is Yet to Come’ Director Jing Wang Follows Path Set By Mentor Jia ZhangkeFirst-time director Jing Wang sees the pain that his mentor Jia Zhangke has experienced on the movie set as motivation for his filmmaking journey. The perfection, precision and attention to details…
Read more »
How To Style Retro Fashion Trends With A 2020 TwistHow to style retro fashion trends with a 2020 twist.
Read more »
Meet Business Insider's 10 execs transforming the advertising and media industries - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web.
Read more »
An Ode To Iconic Street Style Outfits, Since This Year’s Fashion Month Has Gone DigitalAn ode to iconic street style outfits, since this year’s fashion month has gone digital.
Read more »
Must Read: Edward Enninful Covers 'Time', Katie Grand Has a New ProjectPlus, how Rachael Wang hopes to change the fashion industry.
Read more »
Banking Is Now Ahead of Other Industries in Promoting WomenCitigroup’s appointment of Jane Fraser as its next chief executive reflects efforts to elevate women across banking, though many say work remains to transform the industry.
Read more »