In February, Jamaican American designer Maxwell Osborne showed his “anOnlyChild” collection at the 2024 Milan Fashion Week. The annual fashion event was notable for displaying its commitment to a new initiative in the Italian fashion industry created to promote diversity and showcase the talents of previously underrepresented designers.
Jamaican designer inspired by his heritage
One of the designers featured at the unique Milan show was Jamaican American Maxwell Osborne, who is inspired by his Jamaican roots. His “anOnlyChild” collection created fashion looks out of fabrics that suggest a repurposing of hand-me-down clothing.
Innovator and award winner
Designer Maxwell Osborne, along with co-founder Dao-Yi Chow, created the PUBLIC SCHOOL NYC fashion line in 2008. The line is described as a “street-savvy clothing line,” which has won several awards for its “streetwear-infused menswear.” Both founders grew up in New York – Osborne in Brooklyn – and both worked at rapper P Diddy’s fashion label, Sean John. Following their participation in the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Fashion Incubator program in 2010, Osborne and Chow moved their production to New York. Their collection won the CFDA’s Menswear Designer of the Year award in June 2013 and the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund’s top award in October of that same year. Osborne also serves as the creative director of An Only Child in New York, New York. He was inspired by members of his family who grew up with “nothing but their uniforms for school” and had no shoes. Despite the challenges, their clothing was a source of “joy and playfulness for them, he said, adding, “This was their world.”
Italian Fashion Council promotes diversity
A new agreement involving the Italian government’s fashion council, an anti-discrimination entity and nonprofit organization that promotes African fashion, is designed to “trace, identify, and fight” discriminatory practices in the fashion industry. An initial survey will be used to develop a snapshot of the extent of representation of women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups in the fashion industry, including in fashion houses and suppliers. The president of the Italian National Fashion Chamber, Carlo Capasa, said he had been approached by the anti-discrimination office of Italy’s Premier, Giorgia Meloni, to determine what could improve the status of these groups.
Fashion Hub showcased emerging Black designers
Capasa stated that the new initiative differed from previous inclusion efforts in that its focus is on behind-the-scenes representation. “We Are Made in Italy” mentors designers of color who live and work in the country, while another program, the Black Carpet Awards, honors diversity across all sectors. Showcasing emerging designers from underrepresented communities, the Fashion Hub committed to featuring brands like Osborne’s “anOnlyChild” brand from the United States. This initiative was sponsored by Teneshia Carr of Blanc Magazine and the Italian Fashion Council. It provided a place for designers to meet buyers and for the industry to discover new brands.
Photo – Youtube
