Features Overview

“Meet a Changemaker Behind the Gucci Changemakers Initiative”

By Richard Morgan, Sept 24st 2020

Vogue magazine

When social media lit up in June with black squares symbolizing racial justice and antiracist solidarity, Gucci opted out. Today, the company unveiled what it has been working on instead: an expansion of its $6.5 million Gucci Changemakers grants and scholarships program.

The 2019 launch of Changemakers also followed internet furor over a blackface balaclava and a subsequent meeting in Harlem between Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri and Dapper Dan, who joined the Changemakers advisory council, along with poet Cleo Wade, activist DeRay McKesson, will.i.am, and others. “This does not end with Gucci,” Dan assured social justice skeptics at the time. “It begins with Gucci.”Indeed, the turnaround has been radical. Today’s announcement of an expanded program for a new season of Gucci Changemakers applications was a thorough centering of marginalized talent, from the work of Justin Payne, a Black florist in Atlanta who has worked with Beyoncé, to that of Daquan Oliver, a Black programmer in Brooklyn. (Applications for the second round of the Gucci North America Changemakers Impact Fund and Scholarship Program opened today.)

“Why Designer-Maker Culture Is the Enduring Spirit of Detroit’s Design Scene”

By Elizabeth Fazzare, August 31st 2020

cultured magazine

Dewberry’s collection is inspired by the women of color in his life “that have invested in me and built me up,” he says. “Being able to contribute to their sense of empowerment and drive is something that I have always wanted to do. It’s beautiful.” His complex garments are “activated” when worn by women of color, he explains. Both designers find that their city’s growing fashion scene is supportive of young talents; legacy brands like Carhartt are dedicated to bringing others to the stage and collaboration is frequent. The history of industry, Dewberry muses, plays a large part in the city’s natural curiosity: “I think people in Detroit have a great appreciation for how things are made.”