I built MenStyleFashion from nothing. I didn’t have investors. I didn’t have mentors. I didn’t have fashion royalty rolling out the red carpet. I had a laptop, a vision, and the guts to walk into the lion’s den of menswear as a woman with an opinion. Over a decade later, in 2025, nothing has changed. The misogyny is still thick. The discrimination is still raw. And the silence from the top? Deafening.
At Pitti Uomo this week, I was insulted. Called a freeloader. Judged by Italians who assumed I didn’t belong because I didn’t fit the mold of what a woman in menswear is supposed to be—silent, supportive, and sweet. I’m none of those things. I never have been. I speak, I critique, I call out hypocrisy. I dare to believe I belong in a world that wasn’t built for me. And that makes people uncomfortable.
Coco Chanel
Coco Chanel once said, “A woman should be two things: who and what she wants.”
She knew the warzone of business. She was cornered during the war—vilified, ostracized, underestimated—but she didn’t stay down. She renegotiated her contract because she knew her worth. The men might have owned the paperwork, but she was the brand. Without her, there was no Chanel. That’s the kind of clarity I carry into every fashion hall I enter.
And yet, here I am, in 2025, being treated as though I’m asking for scraps. I didn’t crawl into fashion. I stormed in wearing killer heels and refused to bow. I created one of the first independent digital platforms dedicated solely to men’s fashion—from a female perspective. There are fewer women in this space than you can count on one hand. But instead of being celebrated, I’ve been systematically sidelined.
This industry doesn’t know what to do with someone like me. I’m not controllable. I don’t worship brands. I question them. I call out lazy marketing, unoriginal designs, fake sustainability claims, and exclusionary practices. And worst of all, I speak the truth—loudly.
Male Violence
For the last year, I’ve experienced male violence in a form just as vicious as fists: reputational sabotage. Men making up lies. Men slandering my name behind closed doors. Men trying to kill my credibility in boardrooms, back rooms, and online. Men too cowardly to confront me face to face. These aren’t just critics—they are calculated bullies, using whispers to poison wells I built myself.
But I am not broken. I’m built for battle. I always have been.
I was bullied as a girl. Pushed around, laughed at, told I was too loud, too different, too much. But that girl turned into a woman who built an empire of style with zero help from fashion’s inner circle. I didn’t just crash the party—I set up my own stage, built my own lights, and curated my own show. I created MenStyleFashion not because the industry let me in—but because they never would.
That’s why the treatment I received at Pitti Uomo cuts deep. This is a place where men parade in borrowed clothes, pretending to be visionaries. But the moment a woman like me stands her ground, asks for answers, and challenges decisions made without process or transparency—I’m labeled rude, aggressive, difficult. These labels are weapons. And I see them for what they are: fear.
Why Do They Fear Me?
They fear women like me because I shine a spotlight on their cowardice. They fear women like me because I’ve got more integrity in my red stilettos than their whole PR departments. They fear women like me because I don’t need their approval to do what I do.
Fashion loves to talk about inclusion. But inclusion, without action, is decoration. It’s a hashtag. A press release. A photo op. The moment a real woman shows up—fierce, opinionated, experienced—they want her out. Behind all the lights, this industry is still a place where the rules are written by men, enforced by cliques, and protected by silence.
This week I was told I wasn’t allowed in a restaurant at Pitti. I was dismissed without reason. I was denied access while others waltzed in. No apology. No explanation. Just a man with power making up rules. This isn’t about food. This is about erasure. This is about controlling who gets to be seen, who gets to be heard, and who is allowed to sit at the table.
Well, I’ve had enough.
As I’ve said many times and I’ll say again:
“If not now, when? Bullying in fashion must be exposed, and I am a victim. I won’t stay silent.” — Gracie Opulanza
I was created by God to fight this very thing. To expose bullies. To remind women they’re not alone. My platform has always been a voice for the misunderstood, the underestimated, the misrepresented. I didn’t need permission to start. And I don’t need permission to continue.
Fashion Industry Fear Of Powerful Women Is Shameful
To the fashion industry: your fear of powerful women is embarrassing. Your attempts to erase me only amplify me. Your cruelty is the reason I’ll keep going. You can’t cancel what you never created.
To the women reading this: don’t wait for the industry to validate you. Don’t shrink to fit. Don’t let them tame your voice, your vision, your fire. Be disruptive. Be loud. Be unignorable. Like Coco. Like me.
To the men who have tried to discredit me, control me, or bully me—thank you. You made me stronger. You reminded me I’m a threat. You proved my work is dangerous to those who fear change.
This is my public reminder that I will never tolerate bullying in fashion. Not towards me. Not towards anyone. I will expose it. I will write about it. I will fight it.
Because I’m not cut from the same cloth.
I’m cut from the fabric you can’t sew, the thread you can’t trace, the resilience you can’t replicate. I am stitched together by God, laced with grit, and tailored for truth.
I am Gracie Opulanza. And I am still standing.
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