Stella Jean
Bio
Stella Jean is an Italian designer. Recognized as the first Black Italian designer.
Stella Jean was born in Rome with a Haitian mother and an Italian father . She spents her early years in Haitian.
Stella studied political science at Sapienza University of Rome, before dropping out to model for Egon von Fürstenberg, fashion designer and ex-husband of Diane von Fürstenberg. It is here where
she realized that she would rather make the clothes than wear them.
Jean won second place at AltaRoma and Vogue Italia’s “Who Is On Next“ contest in 2011.
In 2013 Stella was chosen and invited by Giorgio Armani to made her official debut fashion-show at Milan Fashion Week SS14 in the Armani/theatre.
- Stella Jean is the first BIPOC member of the Italian Fashion Chamber since its foundation in 1958. The basis of Jean‘s work is multiculturalism applied to ethical fashion, resulting in a cultural fusion of her own métisse identity. Her work often merges classical Italian tailoring with stylistic features of varying cultures. Stella Jean created the business model and sustainable development platform: “Laboratorio delle Nazioni”. In 2019 she was highlighted by the New York Times as the most convincing of all the New Gen designers in Milan.
- Stella Jean has created and built the business model and sustainable development platform entitled: “Laboratorio delle Nazioni”. It focuses on what occurs when fashion becomes a tool for cooperative international development. Through missions on the field, each SJ collection is the result of the construction of a cultural bridge between Italian design and the women artisans of a developing country during each different season. An international cooperation between Jean’s aesthetic and the artisans of developing countries is an ever present staple of her designs, which aim to promote cultural heritage as an enabler and a driver of sustainable development.
Photo: Laboratorio delle Nazioni’s mission in Madagascar-Raphia recovery
Jean’s past LDN missions have included Peru, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali,Pakistan and others expeditions in South America, Africa and Asia.
Photo: Stella Jean at the Palace of United Nations ( Geneva)
Speaker on the “Power of Empowered Women” discussion panel.
- In June 12, 2014, Stella attended as a speaker on the “Power of Empowered Women” discussion panel at the Palace of United Nations and, on the same day, presented her garments created in collaboration with the United Nations ethical fashion program at the World Trade Organization (WTO). In September of that year, Stella Jean presented her creations within the “Fashion 4 Development” project, organised in collaboration with the UN Millennium Development Goals.
- In 2014 she was also nominated by the Business of Fashion as one of the “People Shaping the Global Fashion Industry in 2014” in the annually published ranking list “BOF 500”.
- Stella’s multicultural looks are exhibited at the Victoria and Albert museum (London)and at FIT museum (NYC)
- Her designs have been worn by celebrities like Rihanna , Beyoncé, Zendaya, Viola Davis, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Selena Gomez, Issa Rae.
Photo: Stella Jean at European Commission ( Brussels )
Speaker at “High-level Conference on Responsible Management of the Supply Chain in the Garment Sector”,
organised by the European Commission for Cooperation and International Development.
- Stella Jean is the first and only ltalian fashion designer to take to the stage at a BLM march (June2020).
- In 2021, the We Are Made In Italy (WAMI)movement was founded.
- WAMI is a national co/lective and incubator comprised of multicultural Made in ltaly, with a/I designers hailing from migratory backgrounds, representing and working toward the substantial multicultural transition of the ltalian fashion sector with an acute focus on Diversity, Equity and lnclusion, factually demonstrating that multiculturalism is the only terrain to which ethnic exceptionalism is forced to retreat.
In September 2022 for the very first time during Milan Fashion Week, WAMI put on a live fashion show featuring the largest number ever of representatives from Multicultural Made in ltaly on the same catwalk. - In December 2021 Stella Jean was appointed as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador in recognition of her work with UN Mountain Partnership women artisans.
- Stella have been included in 2021 on the ‘WWD 50 Most Powerful Women List’; that celebrates the achievements of a female leadership globally, creating change across industries.
- In 2023 Stella Jean was awarded as “Designer of the Year” at the Apollo Theatre – Harlem Fashion Row.