The new organisation, which is made up of more than 50 prominent industry figures, is looking to address the fashion industry’s barriers to entry through a series of educational and financial resources.

Working alongside brands and industry partners, Rubric initiative is organising outreach initiatives to level the playing field and help emerging creatives from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds break into the industry. The organisation will host publicly-accessible online seminars and talks with Rubric’s community members to demystify jobs in fashion, work with brands to help aspiring fashion professionals secure paid internships and entry-level opportunities, and collaborate with mentoring schemes to give access to emerging talent.

“How the fashion industry has dealt with diversity issues [in the past] is by tokenism,” said stylist Nell Kalonji, who has played a central role in the launch of Rubric initiative. “This is about community. We are working against being the only Black person in the room, the only Asian person or minority ethnic person in the room. That’s the ultimate goal.”

Rubric initiative’s community members so far include Samuel Ross, Virgil Abloh, Supriya Lele, Adesuwa Aighewi, Alastair McKimm, Campbell Addy, Carlos Nazario, Emma Hope Allwood, Ronan Mckenzie, Jack Davison, Holly Shackleton, Olivia Singer, Holly Cullen and Lynette Nylander.