ＢＬＭ運動がファッションウィークに　黒人デザイナー集団、歴史的デビュー　伊ミラノ

【ミラノＡＦＰ＝時事】イタリアで開催されたミラノ・ファッションウィークで、反人種差別運動「Black　Lives　Matter（黒人の命は大切）」に触発された5人の黒人デザイナーが歴史的なデビューを飾った。（写真はパペ・モコドゥー・フォール氏によるコレクション。ミラノ・ファッションウィークで）
　イタリアのファッション界における多様性を求めてきた５人は、昨年米国で端を発し、欧州に広がった「ＢＬＭ」運動の名を冠したデザイナー集団を立ち上げた。その５人が２４日、そろってデビューを果たした。ミシェル・ヌゴンモ氏もその一人だ。
　新型コロナウイルス流行下の今季のショーは全て事前収録されたものだが、ＡＦＰは先週、ミラノの文化施設チルコロ・フィロロジコでその準備の様子を独占取材した。
　ファッションウィークへの参加は勝利を意味するのかという質問に、ヌゴンモ氏は 「最初の一歩だと思います」と語った。そして、長期的には「 『イタリア製』というラベルは肌の色ではなくノウハウの問題であることを、私たちが住んでいる社会に理解させる必要があります」と述べた。
　ミラノ・ファッションウィークに参加することは、一人のデザイナーにとって究極の夢だ。イタリア人デザイナーもだが、アフリカ出身のデザイナーにとってはなおさらだ。
　同じくＢＬＭデザイナーの一人、ファビオラ・マニラキザ氏は１９７２年、ブルンジの民族紛争で両親を亡くした。「普段は私たちは無視され、見えない存在ですが、これは私たちの再生です」。マニラキザ氏は力を込めて語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/02/26-12:48）

Last minute touches on a frilly white dress, a final coat of powder and it's showtime for the Black Lives Matter-inspired collective making history at Milan Fashion Week.
After a years-long battle to improve diversity on the Italian catwalks, a group of five black designers made their on-schedule debut Wednesday by opening the women's Fall/Winter fashion shows.
All this season's shows are pre-recorded due to coronavirus, but AFP was given exclusive access to their preparations last week at Milan's Circolo Filologico library, not far from the Scala.
Is opening fashion week a victory? I'd say it's a first step, said Michelle Ngonmo, who chose those to include in the debut show.
She is a co-founder of the collective dubbed Black Lives Matter in Italian Fashion, named after the anti-racism movement that swept the United States last year and reached Europe.
Longer term, we have to make the society we live in understand that the 'Made in Italy' label is not a question of skin colour but of know-how, she told AFP.
On an individual level, opening Milan Fashion Week is a dream come true for the designers, all Italian but born in various African countries.
Claudia Gisele Ntsama, a 29-year-old from Cameroon, admitted being a little nervous as she fussed with the eco-friendly looks in pastel tones made entirely from hemp.
Nearby, fellow designer Fabiola Manirakiza played with silk in floral prints for her brand, Frida Kiza.
In general, we are ignored, we are invisible. But this is a rebirth, exclaimed Manirakiza, whose parents were killed in 1972 in ethnic violence in Burundi.
- 'Wall of Silence' -
Ngonmo co-founded the collective last year alongside designers Edward Buchanan and Stella Jean, who has been the only black member of the National Chamber for Italian Fashion since 2016.
It participated in Milan's Fashion Week in September, with a video featuring the same five designers, but that was just a teaser, explained Mokudu Fall, 45, from Senegal.
Now we're on the official calendar, I've been dreaming about it since I've been in fashion, Fall said.
In a nod to his African origins, his collection -- works of art that I transpose on clothes -- featured satin lions and zebras in gold and red, his favourite colours.
Previously, the presentation of the collections of black designers was confined to Afro Fashion Week, which launched in Milan with a show in 2016.
For years we came up against a wall of silence when knocking on the door of the fashion chamber, said Ngonmo, the founder of Afro Fashion Week.
The catalyst for change was the death last year in US police custody of an African-American man, George Floyd, an event that triggered anti-racism protests across the US and the world.
Carlo Capasa, head of the fashion chamber, acknowledged that the death of Floyd was an important moment of awareness for the whole world.
Thanks to the collective, we have become more aware of this theme of racism, he said, adding: In fact, we could have done more.
The chamber now supports the collective through tutoring on design and business skills, and finances the five designers' fashions show and the collections of three of them.
- 'Work twice as hard' -
As a woman and an immigrant in Italy, I had to work twice as hard to prove that I have the same skills as the others, said Joy Meribe, a 43-year-old born in Nigeria.
Her collection -- dresses and skirts in 100% organic silk, yellow, Atlantic blue and dark red -- was made entirely in Italy, like all the others.
Buchanan, an African-American who has been in Italy for 25 years and co-founded the collection, said he has experienced racism on a daily basis.
He said people often assume that he makes T-shirts, or other garments for hip-hop fashion.
They find it hard to imagine that I work in the luxury sector, he said.
But this first official show of the association gives hope to some.
It's a dream come true, says Karim Daoudi, 27, a designer born in Morocco.
Of his shoes featured in the show, he said: I hope they will go around the world.