VOA慢速英语--一位意大利黑人设计师的立志改变意大利的时尚产业

Stella Jean is a Haitian-Italian clothes designer who is trying to change the Italian fashion industry by working with African designers.

She is showing her designs during Milan Fashion Week, a seasonal¹ event in Italy's northern culture center of Milan. The current show lasts until March 4.

Jean is the only Black member of the Italian National Fashion Chamber², a non-profit group that supports Italian fashion. She credits the group with "a lot of goodwill³" in cooperating with five young designers. The effort included financing and business partnerships⁴ with Italian suppliers.

Jean's work became popular after Giorgio Armani invited her to a fashion show in 2014.

"When you want to do something, you can do them immediately," said Jean. She said she has been working against the "mentality⁵ of a certain part of the Italian fashion world."

Edward Buchanan and Michelle Ngomo are two Black fashion designers working in Milan. They collaborated⁶ with Jean demanding fashion companies show their solidarity⁸ with the Black Lives Matter Movement through action.

The Italian fashion group is continuing its efforts by collaborating⁹ with five new designers from Italy's minority communities during fashion week in September.

Jean also wants the world fashion system to value sustainable production methods. So she created an event to build relationships between Italian fashion companies and African fashion designers and artisans. She is also working on a database to document examples of when African culture is misrepresented in the fashion industry.

Valerie Steele is the director of The Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology, in New York City. She said many of Jean's ideas could be copied in the United States and other places.

Steele has some of Jean's creations in the organization's museum collection and recorded a conversation with the Italian designer for Black History Month. Steele said Black designers are also under-represented in the United States although Black culture has done a lot for the fashion industry.

"When a few years ago we did an exhibition on Black fashion designers...we were very shocked to realize that on Vogue¹⁰.com, something ridiculous, like 1 percent of the designers featured were Black," Steele said.

Words in This Story

featuring – n. showing an interesting or important part, quality or ability

runway – n. an area where models walk and show new styles of clothing

collaborate⁷ –v. to work with another person or group in order to reach a goal;

solidarity – n. a feeling of unity¹¹ between people who have the same interests and goals

artisans – n. a person who is skilled at making things by hand

exhibition – n. the act of showing something in public

ridiculous –adj. extremely silly or unreasonable

1 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

2 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

3 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

4 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

5 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

6 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

7 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

8 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

9 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

10 Vogue   

n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的

参考例句：

• Flowery carpets became the vogue.花卉地毯变成了时髦货。
• Short hair came back into vogue about ten years ago.大约十年前短发又开始流行起来了。

11 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。