Few areas of our lives are as deeply entangled with the idea of change as fashion. With every passing season, silhouettes shift, trends dissolve and new systems of expression emerge. To participate in fashion is to embrace a state of perpetual transformation. It follows, then, that the industry’s internal frameworks are often shifting, with roles, hierarchies and power dynamics constantly being renegotiated.
Yet in today’s turbulent climate, that typically generative force risks tipping into chaos. Hard-won progress around inclusivity, representation and creative freedom is increasingly met with backlash, as rigid and oppressive ideologies are making a comeback. The question, then, is not whether fashion will evolve, but how? How do we continue to amplify the right voices? How do we safeguard the openness, experimentation and plurality that so positively define what we do? Ultimately, how do we ensure that we change for the best? To map the challenges and possibilities of the present moment, we spoke to figures at the forefront of this shift who are shaping both our taste and the wider structures and responsibilities of the fashion industry today.
Kenya Hunt
KENYA HUNT, editor-in-chief, Elle UK
The editorial path is, by its very nature, a vow to tenacity. Few positions, fierce competition and the need to navigate insider networks define the field. For some, however, the odds are even more stacked. Before reaching the top of the industry, Kenya Hunt long experienced “being the only Black woman and person of colour in the room, whether in the classroom or the office”. Even after leaving her native US for London to join another publication before moving to Elle UK, where she now sits as editor-in-chief, the first Black woman to hold the title, she was “struck by how overwhelmingly white the British fashion and media industries were”. Rather than waiting for systemic change to arrive on its own, Hunt chose to act. “I wanted to use the influence I had to build the change I wanted to see,” she says. Her lived experience of exclusion is what pushed her to dedicate time and energy to mentoring the next generation of creatives. Through initiatives like R.O.O.M. Mentoring, Hunt works to create support systems for Black and minority students and young professionals, helping them not only get a foot in the door of the fashion industry, but also prepare for what follows. There is no denying that the editor’s role has shifted dramatically in recent years, with AI, digital platforms and declining print reshaping the landscape. Hunt responds by urging a renewed commitment to craft. “Scale back on screen time. Get deeper into books, art, music and films to nurture [your] creativity and critical thinking. Push the quality of writing as far as it can go, but also understand how your creativity can make money.” Hunt’s work stands as a reminder of the importance of holding the industry to higher standards. Many commitments to diversity have faltered amid shifting political climates but, as she notes, “Real change comes from continued, consistent pressure and accountability, even in a culture leaning towards repression.”
Photography by Anna Stokland. Taken from 10 Magazine Issue 76 – CREATIVITY, CHANGE, FREEDOM – out NOW. Order your copy here.
