Milan Fashion Week hears calls for more designer diversity.

In the year Jeanne, who made her debut in Milan in 2013, vowed at the Black Lives Matter protest not to return to Milan Fashion Week until she represented the only black designer. She won’t be this week.

Maximilian Davies, a 26-year-old British fashion designer with Afro-Caribbean roots, is making his debut as the creative director of Salvatore Ferragamo. Filipino American designer Rhuigi Villasenor is bringing Bally back to the runway for the first time in 20 years. Founded by British-Nigerian designer Inye Tokyo Gems, Tokyo Gems is offering a women’s only collection.

Jean says the real change that convinced her to return to the Milan runways was the We Are Made in Italy campaign, which she launched in Milan 2020 with African-American designer Edward Buchanan and Afro Fashion Week Milan founder Michele Ngonmo.

Jean is scheduled to headline the runway with Buchanan and five new We Are Made in Italy designers, including a Vietnamese costume designer, an Italian-Indian accessories designer and an African American handbag designer. It is the third WAMI group to present their collections in Milan.

“We make ourselves heard,” Jin told The Associated Press. “We have invited all these young people. We created the place. A profit has been made.

Among the 2-year campaign’s successes: Both Trussardi and Vogue Italia used WAMI’s database of fashion professionals based in Italy, although the data was not recruited as industry-wide as the founders had hoped. Giselle Claudia Nsama, one of the designers of the first WAMI class, worked in the Valentino design office.

In the year Giorgio Armani, who helped launch Stella Jean in 2013, has stepped in with textiles for the new WAMI capsule collection, shown here. Conde Nast and European fashion magazine nss are helping to finance their production. The three founders of WAMI have provided the fashion council with space for the show, but they are covering the rest from their own pockets after providing limited funding compared to previous seasons.

Ngonmo said Italian fashion houses often confuse diversity — such as featuring black models — with true inclusion, which involves employing professionals in the creative process.

“I have a feeling you don’t understand what diversity means at all. They confuse diversity with inclusion,” she says.

Buchanan says he remains optimistic but admits the post-pandemic market is tough as stores invest in new designer collections.

“Going into this we knew this was going to be a slow grower,” Buchanan said. “In collaboration with designers, we need to be clear about what is in front of them. … They will not be Gianni Versace tomorrow.”

Jean explained that new designers for major fashion brands are imported from outside the Italian system. Despite the progress, she and her colleagues still look to hire people of color in creative jobs and challenge the idea that “Made in Italy” can include local black talent.

“It’s more attractive to have an outsider,” she said.

Jean also said she expects the Italian Fashion Council to follow up on the invitation to create a multicultural board within its structure. She said she feels the initial industry embrace of the diversity project has slowed.

“None of us believed the totality of the promises. Now we are entering the territory we know all too well, when people feel free and comfortable not to keep a promise. It’s obvious,” Jean said.

On her future: “I’m at a crossroads,” said the designer. “My traveling companions are outside the door I am allowed to enter. For a while, being alone in the room, you feel special. But when you see that many of those outside the door are better than you, you realize that you are not special. You were very lucky.