Transforming
Oppression:
The
Third Annual Youth Fashion Show
The New
Orleans Peace Building and Conflict Transformation Project recently hosted its Third
Annual Transforming Oppression Fashion Show Saturday, November 26, 2013 at
Christian Unity Church. This year’s show
included twelve models and performances by seven local youth artist acts. Staff and interns chose three themes for this
year’s show: Vortex of Violence, Lost
Generation and Living Wage.
Traditionally,
Peace by Piece has invited youth and young adults to participate in the Fashion
Show by issuing them white t-shirts and asking participants to transform the shirt
to tell a story about how social issues such as violence, poverty and poor
education (to name a few) impact their lives.
The white tee, to which it is often referred, is a clothing item that is
targeted by authority figures because of its popularity among young African
Americans who don the casual apparel as a simple fashion statement.
Designers adorned
their shirts with illustrations reflective of this year’s themes. Models wanted to use their designs to
demonstrate the connection between poverty, violence and the untimely deaths of
their peers. Participants attended a
workshop where they got a crash course in the definition of oppression and the
manifestations thereof. They also did
visioning where they imagined translating their experiences w/violence, loss of
young lives and lack of employment opportunities into rhetorical images to be
displayed on white tees and hoodies for the show.
This year hoodies
were added to the Fashion Show line-up.
The same concept applied; transform the hoodies to tell stories of injustice
and oppression. The hoody is another
wardrobe feature made popular by a certain race, class and age demographic and
a symbol of how vulnerable to bigotry one becomes when wearing it. The term “hoody” has been propelled into the
American English lexicon as a result of the death of Trayvon Martin. New Orleans, like many major cities, has its
own catalog of victims whose young lives have been lost to violence. Hoodies and white tees are emblematic of the
profiling and violence consistently encountered by the Black community,
particularly Black youth. The show
raises audience awareness of such violence and allows young people to
creatively frame their stories using fashion and art.
The Fashion
Show has become a staple of the New Orleans Peace and Conflict Transformation Project. The program is preparing to leverage the
event to have an even greater impact on crime in the city. AFSC New Orleans wants to see a reduction in
the murder rate and will continue to build programming that addresses the
extraordinary levels of crime that consume youth culture. In 2014, Peace by Piece will produce an
anecdotal log that chronicles the murders of people ages 0-24. The log will be used as a tool to raise
awareness and engage youth, families, activists, school and city officials in solution-based
dialogue that addresses and presents alternatives to violence. Peace by Piece will continue to produce its
annual fashion show to give young people a platform to design their own freedom
one young person at a time.
