Vogue UK has unveiled its September issue, traditionally the fashion world’s most influential and lucrative edition that’s designed to re-engage our style sensibilities after the frivolities of summer.

Reflecting an extraordinary year that’s encompassed both a global pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, Vogue has chosen a pivotal cover story for this fabled moment in the fashion calendar. The edition, titled Activism Now, Faces of Hope, was compiled by a mostly black creative team and features 20 prominent global activists, the majority of whom are black or people of colour. Vogue UK’s Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful describes it as a “rallying cry for the future” and a “moment of necessary change”.

Under the guidance of Enninful, who is British Ghanaian, the magazine has hit numerous landmarks around diversity and inclusion that were previously unrepresented by fashion’s most famous platform. One of the most striking aspects of the September issue is that it’s taken this long for high fashion to acknowledge those beyond the demographic it previously thought it should serve.

Which brings us to the world of digital fashion. Non-physical fashion is evolving and has no historic baggage as yet, but this shouldn’t be cause for complacency. If we take one lesson from the many set by Vogue, it’s to ensure our work gives visibility and representation to those beyond the perceived mainstream.

As creative technologists building the foundations of a digital fashion universe, it’s up to us to avoid the mistakes of the past. We’re at the beginning of the journey, and the decisions we make now will reverberate throughout digital fashion’s existence. It’s a responsibility and privilege to instill collectively beneficial structures, while remaining vigilant about in-built systemic bias in all its forms.

Joy Buolamwini is a computer scientist based at the MIT Media Lab and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League. In her TED talk ‘How I’m fighting bias in algorithms’ she demonstrates how generic software fails to recognise her black skin due the fact it was created with white skin as the standard expectation.

The questions Buolamwini poses are ones we can reference as we ideate the new fashion landscape.

“Are we creating full-spectrum teams with diverse individuals who can check each other's blind spots? Are we factoring in fairness as we're developing systems?” She closes with: “We now have the opportunity to unlock even greater equality if we make social change a priority and not an afterthought.”

For The Fabricant, our work in this space is about more than trying on clothes. In Leela, the digital fashion platform we beta tested in April, we focus on transcending the physical body and questioning the status quo, while enabling new forms of self expression. Leela is a space to try on new ideas, new bodies, new lives, and new perspectives.

We aim to be part of a digital fashion environment that promotes inclusivity and equality for all participants. It’s a work in progress, but if we start with a clear-eyed view on where we can fail, it won’t take us the centuries it’s taken for physical fashion to recognise and represent diversity within the fashion community.

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WHEN THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE BECOMES A HUMAN ISSUE

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