London Fashion Week (LFW) may have come to a close yesterday, but there’s one particular supermodel who left a lasting impression: Adwoa Aboah.
The British model, who is also an activist and was recently named LFW’s ambassador for Positive Fashion, Diversity and Model Health, gave a speech at LFW’s opening ceremony that truly set a new tone for the fashion industry as a whole.
After recent revelations of models being abused, Aboah discussed the new Models First initiative, which has been launched in conjunction with the British Fashion Council and British Fashion Model Association, to protect models. “As a woman and a model, these efforts provide me with a growing sense of comfort and confidence that we are taking the right initial steps towards systematically changing the way we collectively work to protect the safety and rights of models in the industry,” Aboah said.
Considering the constant push for diversity within the fashion industry, Aboah also discussed the importance of representation and how the industry should not only be inclusive of different races, but also different body types, religions, sexualities, and gender identifications.
“How can our industry better represent the reality of our larger community and provide our next generation a proper example of what they see around them every single day?,” Aboah asked. “I myself want to push us all to be committed to ensure that every person out there can eventually identify with someone in our industry that represents them.”
Aboah also challenged the fashion industry as a whole and individuals to use their voices to change the system. “I plan to continue to use mine – and I challenge you today to do the same with yours.”
Spoken like a true queen sprinkling her #BlackGirlMagic.