Photo: Courtesy of Ozwald Boeteng
He continued: “When I was in my seat, and when we talk about racism, there is no question that I experienced it over and over again. I experienced challenges that I wouldn’t if I was in that seat today, I’m sure of that. And my attitude was that you just have to keep going, because that had been the norm for me. What is happening today is something I am over the moon about. To see the level of Black talent rising, not just in design but in photography, film… it’s this huge explosion. I remember a few years ago, Tinie Tempah invited me to a menswear dinner during London Fashion Week. When I got to my table I thought ‘wow’, because nearly everyone at the table was Black. And then I looked around the whole room and I realized I had never seen so many Black faces at a fashion event before. And I was in shock because like a few of us, like Edward [Enninful] and Naomi [Campbell], there was such a long time where it was a case that, more often than not, we would be the only Black person in the room. So it was quite overwhelming.
“What is so beautiful about what is happening now is that at last we can have these conversations,” he added. “And when we look back at how it was, then at how it is today and where it might be going, it is very beautiful to see.”
Expect to see elements of that uplifting and hard-won cultural evolution in Monday night’s show, when one of British fashion’s most significant trailblazers returns to London’s runway stage once more.
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