Watkins Jean

The inclusion of Gloria Jean Watkins (better known by her pen name bell hooks) in this piece warrants little debate. It’s hard to argue against any author being considered a worldbuilder as, through storytelling, they not only build a world but invite others to imagine it in different ways. But bell hooks’ presence here isn’t ‘all about love’ of her novels, it’s about inspiring in all of us ‘the will to change’. Watkins grew up during segregation and her work is informed by the intersectionality of love, race, class, gender, sexuality and feminism.

Through her books, her life’s works contribute to trying to dismantle the psychosocial gap between Black men and Black women, opening the grounds for a more positive interaction between the groups by allowing them to overcome tensions through empathy.

A strong feminist, her work never looked to wallow in self-sympathy. Instead, with its emphasis on the human, her output generated an urgency to improve.

The lessons Watkins wanted to teach us are lessons that humanity can continue to learn from. It comes as no surprise that her novels are still being read by – and are empowering – young Black women of today.

A perfect summary of bell hooks is via her stylistic decision to decapitalise her author name, which she borrowed from her grandmother, so as to “focus attention on her message rather than herself”.

A giving individual who never allowed the injustice of the world to dampen her hope, bell hooks left a legacy that continues to give us all hope – hope that the world we live in can continue to improve, making space for those who’ve been constantly cast aside.

Issey Miyake’s work runs deeper than fabric. An esteemed fashion designer, his collections disrupted the world of fashion as we know it. His work can simply be described as a portal - allowing more people to see themselves in fashionable clothes and, also, see themselves creating clothes and contributing to the fashion industry.

Steve Jobs, Grace Jones, Robin Williams, Joni Mitchell, Kim Kardashian are all names to have sported Issey Miyake, with some being very outspoken fans of the designer. It’s rumoured that Steve Jobs had over 100 of Issey Miyake’s turtlenecks, which became like his second skin – a staple look now forever associated with the tech entrepreneur. Just like the clothing itself, Issey Miyake constantly evaded definition, transcending across music, popular culture and art to pioneer a different way of thinking within the world of fashion.

Blending a plethora of inspirations, Miyake’s most successful venture – the designing and patenting of the micropleats – was seen as a move to democratise the world of fashion. With his ambition to create clothing that was as “universal as jeans and a t-shirt”, the pleats were a combination of his interest in technology and fashion. Made from polyester, they keep their shape and do not crease, allowing them to be a throw on item that will make you look great every time.

As a rich source of inspiration for principles of design, Miyake and other Japanese fashion designers – Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo, to name a few – continue to define the direction of the world of fashion.