Ghanaian-American Virgil Abloh, Others Appointed To Board Of CFDA
A fashion and culture enthusiast who's really a food loving…
Louis Vuitton’s Virgil Abloh was on Tuesday announced as one of the four new board members to the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). The CFDA, chaired by Tom Ford, is American fashion’s governing body. This addition means rotating four existing members to non-voting emeritus status.
According to the organisation in a release, “CFDA is pleased to welcome four new members to the Board of Directors: Virgil Abloh, Maria Cornejo, Kerby Jean-Raymond and Carly Cushnie.”
The members who have been replaced are Kara Ross, Georgina Chapman, Marcus Wainwright and Mimi So. The new members join an existing board that includes Tracy Reese (vice-chairwoman), Vera Wang (secretary), Stan Herman (treasurer), Stacey Bendet, Dao-Yi Chow, Prabal Gurung, Tommy Hilfiger, Norma Kamali, Michael Kors, Reed Krakoff, Ralph Lauren, Ashley Olsen, Italo Zucchelli and Diane von Furstenberg.
It’s quite remarkable to see Tom Ford’s inclusion of this many designers of colour to the CFDA board at the same time. This act supports his continued strive towards making impactful changes to the modus operandi of the American fashion industry in terms of diversity and inclusivity.
Meet the other new members of the CFDA Board…
According to Tom Ford in an interview with WWD, “I’m rearranging the board so that it is more diverse in age and more diverse in every way.” The move comes after Ford says he asked each member what he or she thought worked and what didn’t at the CFDA during his first board meeting as chairman. “Lots of people voiced a concern that the board, and the CFDA, was not diverse enough.” Before the four new appointees took their seats, only five board members were people of colour.
In addition, CFDA added two new judges — plus-size model Paloma Elsesser and Vogue.com Fashion News Director Chioma Nnadi. Tom Ford has also created a new advisory board featuring experts in the fields of art, entertainment, media, and contemporary culture in general.
Named the Advisory Board to the Chairman of the CFDA it will include beauty executive John Demsey and fashion TV host Nina Garcia, along with model and activist Bethann Hardison, talent agent Bryan Lourd, editors Elizabeth Saltzman, Virginia Smith and Will Welch and retailer Daniella Vitale.
Photo Credit: Instagram | Cfda, Credit | us.fahionnetwork.com
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