British Fashion Council board member sets out diversity designs

Roksanda boss Jamie Gill is one of four new members of BFC's board of directors hired to fight prejudice in the industry
Jamie Gill
Handout via Roksanda
Lizzie Edmonds @lizzieedmo17 September 2020

The boss of fashion brand Roksanda has said he is “surprised” at the lack of diversity in the industry which still struggles to attract enough young talent from black and Asian communities.

Former architect and financier Jamie Gill, 32, took over as CEO of the brand, which was founded by Serbian designer Roksanda Ilinčić in 2005, two years ago and is loved by a host of famous names including the Duchess of Cambridge, Michelle Obama and Keira Knightley.

This week it was announced Gill — who formerly worked for Deloitte — was one of four new members of the British Fashion Council’s board of directors hired to fight prejudice in the industry.

Other names brought on board include June Sarpong, director of creative diversity at the BBC; Scott Morrison, founder of creative consultancy the Boom!; and Sian Westerman, senior adviser at Rothschild & Co.

Roksanda's AW20 show at London Fashion Week (Getty Images )
Getty Images

Gill, who was born to British-Indian parents in the Midlands, said he became more aware of the fashion industry’s diversity problem during a recent conference call of black and Asian fashion professionals to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement. Speaking ahead of London Fashion Week, he told the Standard: “After the Black Lives protests this summer, Caroline [Rush, CEO of the BFC] organised a call with BAME fashion leaders. It was then I realised how small the BAME community is within luxury fashion behind closed doors. It surprised me.

“The BFC has always been good at trying to be more inclusive and asking for help how to be. It is good at addressing it head on. Myself, June [Sarpong], Scott [Morrison], Sian [Westerman] — it is proof that the BFC is committed to rebuilding and being diverse. We are here to work out why luxury fashion isn’t inclusive and how to make it more diverse.”

Gill, whose father ran a takeaway business, said more needed to be done to tackle the conception that working in luxury fashion was only for certain groups of people from specific backgrounds.

He added: “There is room for more talent in the fashion industry. Our [fashion] schools are some of the best in the world and we’re a cut above the rest of the world, but like I prove there’s no set way of getting into fashion. It makes sense to widen the pool and encourage diversity because it brings different skills. I have always been an advocate of coming in to fashion from different backgrounds.”

The British Fashion Council yesterday launched a new diversity and inclusion steering committee to address challenges facing minorities in fashion.

The four-day London Fashion Week will be a hybrid event of digital and physical events, fashion shows and presentations.