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When Thom Browne asked designer Prabal Gurung to be the co-vice chair of the Council of Fashion Designers America (CFDA) last year, and when Gurung joined the board a couple of years prior, it looked very different to how it does now, he says. “A big part of why I came on board is to change the conversation. We have to change the way we look at fashion. We need to decolonise, to look at the industry in a more global way, not as ‘exotic’ or this or that.”
The latest fruit of that effort — and one of the biggest new partnerships undertaken by the CFDA since Gurung took on his current role — is an initiative with Korean cultural hub Genesis House on the Genesis AAPI Design Innovation Challenge, a new mentorship programme for emerging fashion designers of Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander (AAPI) ancestry. Submissions will open in mid-July and close at the end of August.
It’s the CFDA’s first AAPI-focused mentorship initiative, with Gurung, Google global director Stephanie Horton and innovation consultant Grace Cha acting as mentors. They’ll be supported by an advisory board made up of six individuals including CFDA CEO Steven Kolb, journalist Alina Cho and actor Jodie Turner-Smith.
“We want to live in a world where we don’t have to do this. But unfortunately, the way this world functions, certain spaces are allocated at the decision-making table — and often, the minorities are in the minority,” says Gurung. “So, instead of constantly asking for a seat at the table, we said, let’s make our own table.”
And why now? It’s about pushing representation past a given “moment”, Gurung says. The Nepalese-American designer recalls a time when Asian designers were supposedly having their ‘moment’. “Alex [Wang], Jason [Wu], Phillip [Lim] — people used to say: ‘It was an Asian designer moment.’ White designers never had that. They’re forever there.” The goal is to create something that becomes permanent, Gurung adds.
CFDA’s Kolb recognised this need to give a platform to AAPI designers. “It’s important to build allyship and stand with a community that is far too often marginalised and highlight its creativity.”
Over the course of five months (from September to February), three AAPI designers will receive mentorship from industry leaders, helmed by the CFDA, alongside a $40,000 funding grant each from Genesis House to finance their design innovations over the five months. The designers will be tasked with creating a collection that highlights the tensions between Korean heritage and modernity. The winner will be awarded an additional $60,000.
The Korean focus stems, in part, from the link with Genesis House. “As a country, South Korea has been a source of global influence, from fashion to movies and, of course, music, which we’ve seen with the K-pop phenomenon,” Kolb adds. As part of this first challenge, all three mentees will go on an immersion trip to Seoul, South Korea. Here, they’ll study Korean heritage and meet with the fashion team at the Onjium research institute.
The partnership was a natural fit, Kolb says. “CFDA programmes depend on partners that share our values. Genesis House and the CFDA both believe that creativity and culture drive innovation and together, we have a shared goal of providing support to underrepresented communities.” Gurung echoes this sentiment. “I can sit here and talk about the changes we want to make, but for change to happen, you need economics, you need the support,” he says. “[Genesis House] understood the need without us having to explain anything to them. They understood the change they wanted to create.”
It’s unclear how the programme will progress — but the CFDA promises to continue its support for AAPI individuals. On the initiative’s future, Kolb says: “We are enjoying our partnership with Genesis in this inaugural year and are committed to continuing our support for the AAPI community.”
Gurung is confident that the focus — and reach — will only expand. “We said, all right, let’s start with this,” he says. “We want to expand it and grow it further. I always say, change is good, as long as it’s a really tangible change.”
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