Afrofashion Association’s Decade of Work
Over the past decade, Michelle Francine Ngonmo has worked to reshape the composition of Italian fashion’s creative ranks, a mission that advanced this month when designer Victor Reginald Bob Abbey-Hart made his Milan runway debut in a collection focused on denim.
Ngonmo, a 38-year-old Cameroonian-Italian, founded the Afrofashion Association ten years ago to mentor designers of color and hold fashion houses accountable for diversity pledges. “Italy is no longer a white Italy, as imagined, but an Italy where there are many colors,” Ngonmo said.
Measuring Progress and Persistent Barriers
The Association’s work spans runway shows, mentorship programs, and recognition ceremonies, including the Black Carpet Awards launched in 2023. In its first decade, the organization has worked with 3,000 people of color, with 92 advancing to sustainable professional positions in creative work, according to Ngonmo.
The push for change gained momentum after the Black Lives Matter movement prompted broader discussion about the absence of people of color in Italian fashion’s design studios. Designers Stella Jean and Edward Buchanan partnered with Ngonmo to demand that fashion houses replace statements of solidarity with concrete action. The three launched “We Are Made in Italy,” a mentorship program that operated for several seasons before support dimmed as attention waned and the fashion industry faced economic pressures.
“At the time there was a reaction, indeed a very strong request to have to deal with creatives, especially Blacks in Italy,” Ngonmo said. “And then slowly the curtain closed because the attention was no longer on that.”
Institutional Support and Recent Momentum
The Italian National Fashion Chamber has provided institutional backing. Carlo Capasa, the chamber’s president, attended Abbey-Hart’s Milan Fashion Week presentation and wore one of the designer’s denim coats. Capasa said the Association’s projects have given visibility to more than 30 designers of color during recent fashion weeks.
Abbey-Hart, who heads the fashion brand Victor-Hart, recently designed a denim collection for the retailer Max & Co. before his Milan debut. The designer, who has lived in Italy for nine years, spoke of his path to fashion. “I realized I want to go where it was made,” he said, recalling his childhood inspiration in Ghana. “Coming to Italy really gave me a big door of opportunity to understand what the world really asks for, as a designer.”
The visibility generated by Ngonmo’s work has attracted international recognition. Condé Nast editor Anna Wintour has met with Black Carpet Award nominees on the sidelines of Milan fashion weeks, according to Capasa.
The Work Ahead
Abbey-Hart acknowledged the barriers that remain. “Sometimes, before you even get to the room for the interview, you’ve been disqualified already. It’s really tough, and I want people to understand,” he said. “Take away the color, take away what I represent, just look at the job.”
Ngonmo, who also mentors fashion students and travels regularly to Africa to work with designers there, now focuses on sustaining relationships with institutions that have remained committed to diversity. “I now focus my attention on those companies, those institutions that have remained with us during these years, and look at the result we have brought,” she said.