Black Lives Matter

A note from the editors at Fashionista.

Over the weekend, protests erupted all over the United States in reaction to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade, the latest in a long line of injustices committed against the Black community. We have been disturbed by the treatment of protestors by police in our home cities of New York City and Los Angeles, as well as in Minneapolis, Atlanta, Richmond, Chicago, among others, where police have fired rubber bullets and tear gas at crowds as well as at members of the free press, who have also been arrested in multiple locations.

To create more space for the conversations carrying over from this weekend's protests, we won't be publishing at all today.

We at Fashionista stand unequivocally in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Fashion and beauty are inherently political: They serve not only as platforms and forms of expression, but also as documents of our times. And for far too long, these industries have been willing to profit off Black culture and Black bodies without speaking up for them or without allowing them to have a voice in its most important spaces.

Our industries have a long way to go. It's not enough to cast a few Black models or influencers in your campaigns, editorials and runways. It's important that when they speak up, their thoughts and contributions are acknowledged and heard. By not publishing any stories to our site today, we hope to make space for those voices. We all have a responsibility to put in the hard, and sometimes uncomfortable, work on behalf of our Black colleagues.

We realize that that includes us at Fashionista: In our 13 years of existence, our salaried staff has been predominantly white. This is something which we have been aware of for some time and we know we can always do better, so we are constantly discussing initiatives internally to improve the diversity of voices represented on our website and will continue to make this a top priority moving forward.

We'll be resuming our normal publishing schedule tomorrow. In the meantime, we'll be sharing stories highlighting Black creatives in the fashion and beauty industries on our Twitter and Instagram channels today. We would also recommend the following resources:

Donate:
Black Visions Collective
Reclaim the Block
Minnesota Freedom Fund
National Bail Fund Network
Free Them All for Public Health
Know Your Rights Camp
Black Lives Matter
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls
Black Youth Project 100
The Loveland Foundation Therapy Fund for Black Women and Girls
The Marsha P. Johnson Institute
Equal Justice Initiative
We The Protesters
National Police Accountability Project
Campaign Zero

Further reading:
Anti-racism resources for white people
75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
11 Things You Can Do to Help Black Lives Matter End Police Violence
How to Support the Protesters Demanding Justice for George Floyd
11 Books on Racial Justice to Read Right Now
Activist Rachel Cargle Explains What It Means to Be Actively Anti-Racist
Here's How You Can Demand Justice for George Floyd
When Feminism Is White Supremacy in Heels
Fight For Breonna
Two Crises Convulse a Nation: A Pandemic and Police Violence
There's Nothing Confusing Here
13 Books You Should Read About Black Lives
11 Things to Do Besides Say 'This Has to Stop' In the Wake of Police Brutality
30+ Ways Asians Perpetuate Anti-Black Racism Everyday
Your Black Colleagues May Look Like They're Okay — Chances Are They're Not

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