With people continuing to share information and educational resources surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement across social media, chances are you might have spotted the BIPOC Creative Directory pop up on your feed. Created by rising model and XYNE collective casting director Nouri Hassan, the directory brings a long list of Black and Brown creatives together, and spans photographers, hair stylists, make-up artists, models, and more.
Researched by a group of Hassan’s friends, collaborators, and inspirations (“some I’ve known since the beginning of my modelling career, some I’ve worked with more recently, and some I hope to work with one day”), the list includes details of established names like Tyler Mitchell, Nadine Ijewere, Nell Kalonji, Campbell Addy, and Ib Kamara, as well as a host of rising stars.
Hassan explains it was not only meant as a creative tool, but also a way of holding brands to account by placing a diverse list of collaborators right under their nose.
“For the most part, the fashion industry’s response to Black Lives Matter has been performative,” she says. “Too many companies are only now acknowledging the industry’s inherent racism and are using the movement as a marketing tactic for optics. Their insincere efforts of posting a black box or throwing money at an organisation before looking inward at the behaviours of their company are tone-deaf. People need to make space for BIPOC. We need to be at the forefront of this movement and placed in positions of power to create definitive change.”
Along with the team that helped her bring its website to life, Hassan hopes the directory will become a huge collaborative effort, encouraging people to submit details of creatives whose work they love. “There’s no way of contacting me directly – I wanted it to be a seamless transaction between the user and the creatives they’re looking for without anyone in the middle,” she says. That said, the likes of Elle magazine, Rent The Runway, and Warby Parker have already been in touch to express their gratitude for the resource. “The response has been totally astounding,” Hassan confirms.
Head here to check the BIPOC Creative Directory out.