The biggest names in fashion proudly declare, ‘I am an immigrant’

In light of Trump’s immigration ban, W Magazine released a video featuring 81 of the biggest names in fashion, with many proclaiming, “I am an immigrant.” Faces like model Adriana Lima, jewelry designer Waris Ahluwalia, Vanity Fair’s creative director Jessica Diehl, and fashion photographer Craig McDean all appear in the video. Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg goes last, introducing herself and adding, “America was very good to me.”

The video was put together during New York Fashion Week, which was, in general, filled with outspoken gestures criticizing Trump’s stances on race, gender, and religion. Several designers made a statement—from T-shirts that read, “Feminist AF,” gifted to the audience at Jonathan Simkhai’s show, to both Prabal Gurung and Christian Siriano sending models down the runway in shirts that read, “I am an immigrant,” “Love is the resistence” [sic], and “The future is female.” Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne also designed red MAGA lookalike caps that read “Make America New York.”

“The collection started off with a conversation about borders,” Chow told New York Times. “[New York is] made up of people of all different cultures, of immigrants.”

During fashion week, designers and models alike expressed that the foundation of the fashion industry was built and continues to be built on an open dialogue and cooperative exchange of creative ideas between countries. “Designers are expressing empathy, joy—everybody is treating the current political climate in their own way,” said W’s creative and fashion director Edward Enninful, who directed the video. “There’s not one way to respond to today.”