In Italy, little has been done to face the realities of inequality and discrimination towards minorities, mainly because an initial conversation about racism with entities in denial of being racist at all is a challenge within itself. As we all know by now, racism comes in many forms, from daily micro-aggressions to episodes of violent outbursts, but conversations around this topic only seem to gain a little traction when we hear about the latter. There is a sense that despite the awareness sparked by the BLM protests back in June, Italian power structures still struggle to understand the role they play in all of this and probably wonder why we’re still pushing for these conversations at all. Italian designer Stella Jean was among the very (very) few high profile people to speak out and address this issue in a meaningful way with a proposal to Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana – the fashion council that organizes the Milan shows – during a BLM protest in Rome, which got the attention of international news media outlets.

Stella Jean, who is of Italian and Haitian heritage, is the only Black member out of the 113 at CNMI and she is urging more Italian fashion houses to hire more people of color. This concerning statistic isn’t raising any alarms, instead, it’s used to prove that in assisting her financially over the years, along with the efforts to scout emerging brands, the fashion council is doing their part; what they fail to understand is that denied job opportunities, whether it be towards foreigners or Italian minorities, is complicit to systemic racism and the focus shouldn’t be on Jean’s singular case.

As BBC News reports, because of migration in the past few years, Italian society is changing very quickly, but that’s not reflected on catwalks, in magazines and in fashion stores. The misconception that to be Italian is to be white still exists. This could be the reason why tokenism, pushed by politically correct marketing initiatives, is seen as a good deed rather than an insult to the diversity of Italian society, and because second generation Italians are still a novel concept, including them in anything that revolves around the exported image of Italy is not even a prospect.