Full access to the livestream is included with a BoF Professional membership. Join us to open your mind, lift your spirits and get out of your comfort zone. Register here.

The Business of Fashion is pleased to announce the latest line-up of global speakers for VOICES, BoF’s annual gathering for big thinkers, which will take place from Dec. 1 to 3, 2021, at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire.

VOICES is BoF’s annual, invitation-only gathering bringing together movers, shakers and trailblazers of the fashion industry and uniting them with the people shaping the wider world. Over three days, executives, entrepreneurs, experts and business leaders will converge in Oxfordshire to immerse themselves in a programme of provocative talks, interactive discussions and stimulating activities, capturing the power of cross-industry learning and collaboration.

In addition to speakers announced earlier this year — including Balenciaga chief executive Cédric Charbit, disruptive designer and activist Dame Vivienne Westwood; non-binary activist, storyteller and former international ambassador for Black Lives Matter, Janaya Future Khan and entrepreneur and shoe designer Christian Louboutin — VOICES 2021 will also feature:

• Dame Vivian Hunt, senior partner at McKinsey & Company, who will discuss stakeholder capitalism and how businesses can serve everyone, not just shareholders.
• American stylist Law Roach, Somali-American humanitarian and model Halima Aden and American actor, model and activist Indya Moore will join Tommy Hilfiger to explore how brands can create authentic cultural collaborations.
• Platon will share lessons on leadership from more than two decades of photographing of from politics, culture and business.
• Dame Ellen MacArthur will share her latest thinking on incorporating circular design principles into fashion.
• Kevin J. Delaney, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Charter, will make predictions on the future of work in the post-pandemic era.
• Lady PheOnix, founder and chief curator of virtual museum network YesUniverse, will be in conversation with Joe Hage and Ian Rogers the future of the metaverse.
• Podcast host and writer Lila Donnolo will explore the importance of re-discovering intimacy and human connection as we emerge from the pandemic.
• Sarah P. Jones, creator of Mental Health Intelligence and CovidDataHub.com, Simon Whitehouse, chief executive of Eco-Age and founder of art collective Ebit and behavioural psychologist Carolyn Mair will examine the impact of the pandemic on mental health in the workplace.

Following our successful partnership over the past six years, McKinsey & Company will be the Exclusive Knowledge Partner for VOICES, co-publishing our authoritative annual report on The State of Fashion 2022. (You can download last year’s report here.) Our new report will include rigorous analysis based on extensive qualitative and quantitative data, interviews with top industry executives and the McKinsey Global Fashion Index, a database of more than 500 companies that tracks industry sales as well as operating and economic profit.

Access to VOICES 2021 is included for advanced BoF Professional members. Join thousands of fashion professionals from 125 countries around the world to participate in the industry’s most disruptive and authoritative event. Register now.

VOICES 2021 is made possible in part through our partners McKinsey & Company, Shopify, Clearco, Klarna, Brandlive, Flannels, Snap, Getty Images and Soho House.

Halima Aden is a Hijab-wearing former model who has redefined traditional standards of beauty, diversified the modelling industry and made Muslim women — a demographic underrepresented in fashion— more visible. After signing with IMG Models in 2017, Kenya-born Aden became the first model to appear on the covers of Vogue Arabia, Allure and Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue wearing a hijab. Halima has done covers for Carine Roitfeld’s CR Fashion Book, British Vogue and Teen Vogue; walked for Alberta Ferretti, Max Mara and Yeezy; as well as collaborated with and been named a global ambassador for hijab brand Modanisa. In 2020, she made the decision to step away from modelling, but continues to make an impact on the fashion world and beyond.

Kevin J. Delaney is chief executive and editor-in-chief of Charter, a media and services company that aims to transform every workplace. He was previously a senior editor for The New York Times and The Information. Kevin co-founded Quartz and served as co-CEO and editor-in-chief from 2012 to 2019. Prior to Quartz, Kevin was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal for a decade, with that time split between Paris and San Francisco. He became managing editor of WSJ.com, where he led efforts that helped greatly expand the Journal’s online readership. Early in his career, Kevin was a reporter for SmartMoney magazine and a TV producer in Montreal.

Lila Donnolo is an intimacy specialist, public speaker, performer, podcaster, writer, coach and “creatrix,” whose mission is to make the world a more intimate place. She is a featured creator and member of the inaugural Creator First accelerator programme on Clubhouse, where she hosts an interactive audio show, Positively Sex! [Sex Ed, with Pleasure]. An experienced “pillow-talker,” Lila also hosts a podcast “horizontal with lila,” which dives into intimacy of all kinds, and is recorded lying down, wearing robes. She says it can be thought of as “consensual eavesdropping.” Marie Claire named it one of the best sex podcasts of 2021.

Dame Vivian Hunt is a senior partner at McKinsey & Company. She advises corporate, public and third sector clients on performance improvement, productivity growth and leadership. Vivian has co-authored some of McKinsey’s most influential publications, including “Solving the United Kingdom’s Productivity Puzzle in a Digital Age,” which showed that both human capital and technology core to improving productivity, and she’s pioneered key studies tying diversity to strong financial performance. A powerful advocate for non-traditional voices in the corporate world, in October 2020, she delivered a TED Talk on how businesses can serve everyone — not just shareholders. Vivian has been named one of the top ten “most influential black people in Britain,” by the Powerlist Foundation, and the Financial Times called her both one of the “European women to watch,” and “one of the 30 most influential people in the city of London.”

Sarah P. Jones is the creator of Mental Health Intelligence, an evidence-based corporate mental health program, and the co-creator of CovidDataHub.com, the strategic data intelligence platform for the largest continuous Covid health behaviour study in the world with real time, open access data. Contributors and users of the platform include The World Health Organization, the IMF, the UN SDSN, the Bank of England, the UK Cabinet Office, the European Central Bank and China CDC. Her commentary and research on behaviour trends under Covid are regularly featured in The New York Times, Bloomberg, the World Economic Forum, BBC World News and The Washington Post.

Valéria Bessolo Llopiz is the senior vice president and international director of Elle and Elle Deco. She oversees the editorial management of Elle’s 45 editions, and Elle Deco’s 23 editions, including international production, content syndication and marketing strategy. She began her career in 1994 at fashion houses, including Chloé, Rochas and Inès de la Fressange. She first joined Elle parent company Lagardère Active in 2001 in the Elle brand diversification department to lead international development and manage the design teams on a global scale. Since February 2021, Bessolo Llopiz has led Lagardère media division’s corporate social responsibility initiative.

Dr. Carolyn Mair is a behavioural psychologist working in the fashion industry. While a professor of psychology for Fashion at the University of the Arts, London she developed its first psychology department and wrote the world’s first MSc, MA and BSc degree programmes to apply psychology in the context of Fashion. A decade later, fashion psychology has become a global phenomenon. Carolyn left academia in 2017 and established her consultancy, Carolyn Mair Consulting Ltd. She has a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, MSc Research Methods and BSc Applied Psychology and Computing.

Dame Ellen MacArthur is the founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which works to accelerate the transition to a circular economy and has helped put the subject on the agendas of decision-makers around the world. Having become acutely aware of the finite nature of the resources on which our linear economy relies, she started the foundation after retiring from a prolific sailing career that saw her make history as the fastest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe. Since the publication of its first economic report in 2012, the Foundation has launched global initiatives on plastics, fashion and food, developed innovation networks with educators, businesses and governments, and released more than 20 reports and books.

Indya Moore is a celebrated actor, model and activist. Born and raised in New York City’s Bronx neighbourhood, Indya has appeared on the cover of publications such as Vogue Spain, L’Officiel, Porter and Vogue Italy, as well as in collaborations with designers Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, YSL and Calvin Klein. Indya was one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2019 and made history as the first trans person to be on the cover of Elle magazine. Additionally, Moore has appeared on The Hollywood Reporter’s 2019 Next Gen List as well as Forbes 30 Under 30. Their activism caught the eye of designer Tommy Hilfiger, who invited Moore to participate in his 2021 Spring campaign.

Lady PheOnix is a leading figure in contemporary digital art and culture. She produces creative works at the intersection of art and technology and uses storytelling and emerging technology as a vehicle for world change. Through the virtual gallery she co-founded, Universe Contemporary, she amplifies the work of digital artists. Lady PheOnix also organised the landmark digital exhibition Proof Of Sovereignty with Christie’s, which was the first curated non-fungible token (NFT) auction offered at a major auction house, and founded Crypto Fashion Week. Her most recent critically acclaimed project, Breonna’s Garden, honours the life of Breonna Taylor and provides a revolutionary framework for veneration through augmented reality.

Platon is one of world’s most renowned portrait photographers, and founder of The People’s Portfolio — a non-profit foundation dedicated to celebrating human rights defenders around the world and creating a visual language that breaks barriers, uplifts dignity and fights discrimination. He has photographed more world leaders — including six US presidents — than anyone else in history, as well as more than 30 covers for Time magazine in addition to being a staff photographer for The New Yorker. His first film, “My Body Is Not a Weapon,” features the work of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege in helping survivors of conflict-driven sexual violence. Platon is on the World Economic Forum’s board for arts and culture, and his life work is the subject of a Netflix documentary, “Abstract: The Art of Design.” Last year, the Smithsonian Museum acquired his archive of prominent African American civil rights and cultural leaders.

Law Roach is a stylist and Image Architect™, perhaps best known for his work with Céline Dion, transforms celebrities into fashion icons. Law grew up in Southside Chicago and started his career as a vintage broker — curating vintage pieces, which he eventually sold through iconic boutiques Deliciously Vintage Harlem, and Deliciously Vintage Chicago — before becoming a self-made stylist. His list of clients now includes A-list celebrities such as Zendaya, Kerry Washington, Priyanka Chopra and Tom Holland. He was creative director or the Tommy x Zendaya fashion line by Tommy Hilfiger, which premiered at Paris Fashion Week. He has joined the panel of judges for “America’s Next Top Model,” and sits alongside names like Megan thee Stallion as a judge on HBO Max’s voguing competition show, “Legendary.”

PJ Smith is the director of fashion policy for The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International. For more than a decade, PJ has worked with leading fashion companies — including Kering, Prada, Burberry, Selfridges, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Inditex, Farfetch and InStyle magazine — to implement policies that benefit animals and the environment. His work has reformed supply chains, revolutionised the way the fashion industry views animals, and inspired a new generation of humane materials. In 2010, Smith helped pass the federal Truth in Fur Labeling Act, which ensures clear and proper labelling for all fur products sold in the US, and in 2019, he was instrumental in the passage of California’s fur sales ban. Smith spoke at VOICES in 2017 following Gucci’s fur-free announcement and is thrilled to be back.

Seno Tsuhah is a teacher, farmer and an indigenous women rights activist who belongs to the Chakhesang tribe of Nagaland. She has worked with the North East Network (NEN), a women’s rights organisation in North East India for over 20 years on issues of gender justice, food sovereignty and sustainable development. In 1998, she helped NEN found the Chizami Women Health Centre, that focuses on women’s health and indigenous healing systems. In 2005, she helped found the NEN Resource Centre Chizami, a thinking and learning space with diverse training programmes for women and children.

Simon Whitehouse is the chief executive of sustainability consultancy Eco-Age and founder of EBIT™ — Enjoy Being in Transition™ — the first brand provoking dialogue on mental health in fashion, music and art. A fashion industry veteran, he was once one of the youngest CEOs inside LVMH before joining influential talent agency Art Partner as CEO. He began his career in brand development with DKNY and Diesel, as well as his own soccer social enterprise working with Pele in Brazil. Simon then partnered with Jonathan Anderson to take the reins as CEO of JW Anderson during a period of unprecedented growth and critical acclaim for the brand. Simon lives with chronic depression and is a long-time open advocate of mental health issues. He has run several ultramarathons in aid of Mind, the UK’s largest mental health charity.