“Fight Racism” is the name  Jean Paul Gaultier gave his legendary AW 1997-collection.

In this collection, the French designer showed graphic print series in a newspaper effect that emphasised the fight against racism. When you look closely, you can distinguish young anti-fascists skinheads, wearing clothes with the message “Fight against racism”, against a backdrop of anarchist and graffiti symbolism.

Gaultier is not a designer-activist for the buhne, but as a designer he has always shown a strong activist attitude in his work. He stood up for models that represented women from different sizes, races and ages. And in 2019 he used this anti-racism theme again in a collaboration with Supreme, the renowned streetwear brand. This time the message was “FUCK RACISM”, an homage to Gaultier’s original “Fight Racism” collection.

Last January 2020, the fashion legend took a final bow with a last show. He had a message for the whole industry:  “There are too many clothes and loads of them are never worn. Don’t throw them away, recycle them,” he said, declaring his final collection, his first “upcycled haute couture” one.

I totally agree with Jean Paul Gaultier. Above all: while wearing his Fight Racism-outfit, you’ll spread a very important message which is unfortunately still necessary, 23 years after the drop!

Ian Hornby