It was a sea of black on the red carpet at the 75th annual Golden Globes on Sunday night as many actresses — and actors — dressed head-to-toe in the somber shade to protest sexual harassment and gender inequality.
Actress Connie Britton was among the celebrities who wore black to the awards show, and the sweater she chose was embroidered with a pointed message: “poverty is sexist.”
Britton’s top was made by New York City brand Lingua Franca in collaboration with ONE.org, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting extreme poverty, New York magazine’s The Cut notes.
“Nowhere on earth do women have as many opportunities as men. Nowhere. But for girls and women in the poorest countries, that inequality is amplified,” ONE.org writes on its website. “We won’t end extreme poverty until we break down the barriers holding girls and women back.”
For example, there are more than 130 million school-aged girls around the world who aren’t currently in school, according to the advocacy group. This education gap is perpetuating a cycle of poverty for many communities worldwide.
Britton wrote on Instagram that she’d dressed in all black to “acknowledge that it is time for all of us, men and women, to empower ourselves with equality.”
“My hope is that this movement will now reach the grass roots, the small towns, the villages near and far, where women have been silenced, without resources, in the face of gender disparity,” wrote the “Nashville” actress, who has advocated for girls’ education and Ebola awareness on behalf of ONE.org in the past.
Lingua Franca designer Rachelle Hruska told The Cut that the brand was grateful to see one of its products spark an important conversation about poverty and inequality.
“That we have any part of this moment in history [shows that] everyone has a voice,” Hruska said. “We are so grateful to be using ours, even if through silent stitching to drive conversations and change. ‘Poverty is sexist’ is more than a slogan: It’s a fact of life for hundreds of millions of girls and women around the world.”
