Stacey Abrams

They have been very intentional about attacks on race, attacks on gender, attacks on sexual orientation, sexual gender identity.

They have been very, very clear about the rise of ethno-nationalism and Christian nationalism, and those are markers of fascism.

And the reason I raise this is because, you know, during Trump's first term, there was a heated debate among designers about whether they would dress Melania.

You know, there are big names like Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs and Zach Posen who publicly refused.

And yet this time, that forceful opposition seems to have faded.

And multiple members of the family of this regime, the family of those who have made it a very clear intention to reject Melania,

diversity, to be repulsed by the importance of identities that are not their own.

These family members are being dressed for events by high-profile designers.

And so I'd love to hear you reflect on how you see the shift and what does it say about the fashion industry and cultural gatekeepers more broadly.

And I want to tie it back to something you referenced, which is

Khakis and the polo shirts of today were the brown shirts that Hugo Boss had to apologize for providing to the Nazis.

And so I'd love to just know how you're thinking about the role that the fashion industry is playing in this overthrow of democracy.

I'm so glad you raised that.

And I appreciate your very thoughtful engagement because as much as there are 10 steps to authoritarianism and autocracy, I believe there are 10 steps to freedom and power.

And two of my favorite steps are step six, which is disruption.

We've got to disrupt those things that would steal our joy.

We've got to disrupt those moments or those industries or

the facility of authoritarianism to change who we are or what we expect.

And then we have to deny.

We have to deny dominion over our language, over our fashion, over how we express ourselves, because part of authoritarianism is this intention to deny you personal freedom, and part of fascism is to deny you identity.