If there can be said to be a single group of people who have most effectively counteracted the monolithic idea of what it means to be Asian-American — a label that encompasses people with ancestry from countries in East Asia, the Pacific and South Asia — it might be the several dozen Asian-American designers who began to shape the fashion industry in New York beginning in the early ’80s. Their collective presence corrects at least some of the tokenism that has often defined the fashion world, where diversity can often be a one-dimensional gesture.
