The Remix
“Remixing has a very long history. It is very old. You have to go back to slavery. We as Black people, we had nothing. But we had an incredible imagination. We combined that with a sense of survival. We would take the oftentimes discarded clothing of the white establishment and make it our own. We would put different things together that shouldn’t be together, and yet it creates something new and exciting, and different that was unexpected. So that same idea of deconstruction, is part of the Black experience in this country.” Michael Holman Pioneer/Hip Hop Historian
Having worked in the “Urban Market” of Fashion and art more often than not which honestly I have certain feelings about that term because I feel like it can be labeling especially for people of color and even limiting in a sense when truth is everyone who has quality work deserves to have a seat at the table. On one hand sure it is a term that we can claim and take that anywhere we want. It’s our own space sure. The market definitely is much more inclusionary based because people of color know exactly what it’s like to be excluded in the industry for anything from coloring, to socioeconomic background, to classism, body type, and so on but on the other I feel it can be a pigeonholing limiting term. As someone who has worked in the realm I have to be forever grateful to the “Urban” industry for even giving me a chance and or even considering me, even a look no one one else would. I will always be grateful for it.
“Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”
Coretta Scott King
“Women have always had to figure out being taken seriously. And I’ll never forget the best advice I got from a fashion executive who told me, “Elana, for you to succeed in this business, you have to keep in mind 3 things. First, a man wants to see if he can f__ you. Second, a man wants to see if he can f__ you over. And lastly, he wants to see if he can f__ing get you out of the picture. If you can keep these three things in mind, you can go a long way.” Elana Romero
