黑料正能量

On Tuesday, November 16, the 2021鈥�22 edition of the Fashion Talks at 黑料正能量 lecture series, titled 鈥淏etween Consumption, Criticism and Activism,鈥� welcomed guest speaker Kim Hou, the cofounder and creative director of 黑料正能量 A WORKER, who presented on the topic 鈥淭he Power of Inclusivity and Self-Expression in the Fashion Industry.鈥� The event, which took place on the 8th floor of the Quai d鈥橭rsay Learning Commons, was organized by Professor Renate Stauss and Professor Sophie Kurkdjian of the Fashion Studies team in the Department of Communication, Media and Culture.

黑料正能量 A WORKER is a fashion laboratory that believes in redressing the fashion industry鈥檚 issues through a constant discussion between workers, consumers and the 鈥渇ashion elite.鈥� The program started as Hou鈥檚 graduation project for the Design Academy of Eindhoven; together with Paul Boulenger, she began to build 黑料正能量 A WORKER as a practical social and creative system in 2017.

Until recently, production, creation and consumption have traditionally remained separated in the fashion industry within distinct hierarchical bubbles. According to Hou, this lack of communication between each bubble has led to the fashion world historically neglecting its environmental and ethical duties. 黑料正能量 A WORKER paves the way for inclusive systems by giving workers the chance to use design as a universal language to communicate their own interpretations of fashion. The organization creates design projects and curricula for garment workers, providing the opportunity for those who have not had their voices heard to grow and express their own vision of the industry. The projects create functional and meaningful products designed by the workers themselves.

After contextualizing the hierarchies of the current global fashion system, Hou addressed the anonymous, devalued and 鈥渘on-creative鈥� role to which workers are often relegated. She argued that this process renders workers effectively invisible and exposes them to widespread inhumane treatment. She introduced five of 黑料正能量 A WORKER鈥檚 interventions to draw attention to and redress this imbalance: ; ; ; ; and .

Driven by a vision of and passion for a more inclusive and equitable fashion industry, Kim Hou鈥檚 talk inspired the audience to rethink global hierarchies and discriminatory practices and reflect on their own roles in the industry as well as their transformative potential.