Review of Wildflower by Aurora James

*Wildflower* by Aurora James (2023). Published by Crown.

So, I’m going to admit this: I had never heard of Aurora James before I picked this book up. It’s shocking for me considering I was attending the Fashion Institute of Technology and deep in the industry as a student there, especially considering James was becoming such a big name while I was a student in fashion.

I left the industry because of my experiences at FIT (I personally could not stand the sheer amount of microaggressions and straight up racism happening in that school, which I knew extended into the industry), but when I saw this memoir was coming out in 2023 and read the synopsis, I knew I wanted to pick it up and see what James’ experience was like.

I placed a hold at my library as soon as I heard about the book, and when the copies arrived on the publication date I sat down with the book after picking it up, and read it in two sittings.

It’s not dense at all and I found the text to be a little more on the larger side for a print book, so I ended up finishing it in less than two hours, which means I found it compelling enough to not drop it—that’s a good sign. I don’t review the books I drop.

Anyways, let’s get into this.

Aurora James is an innovator that’s truly self-made at times.

This is a memoir, which is important to remember if you’re more interested in the fashion parts. James introduces us into her childhood and life in Canada as a mixed race girl growing up with a white mother, and how when she was a bit older, her mother was in an abusive relationship with a Jamaican man who moved all of them to his country.

There, James describes the abuse they faced and how she wanted to escape and live with her grandmother, which she does for a bit, and how she didn’t realize her birth father had died. He had tried to visit them in Jamaica, but her stepfather had barred him from entering the property.

James then took this “troubled” nature into her with school when she moved back to Canada, and ended up dropping out of high school. She worked some jobs in retail and whatnot, and then she ends up moving to Los Angeles in search of a career as a model. It was as a model she began to realize the limitations of the industry, which inspired her to start making her own business.

Eventually, this evolved from products sold in a flea market to innovative designs done by artisan shops actually in Africa. James eventually won the CFDA Award for her work, but she outlines predatory practices done by her mentor in industry and how she wasn’t actually given the financial support she needed to stay out of the red and continue paying the vendors in Africa.

At the same time, armed conflict is occurring in the region, and the safety of the workers and the products are actively being threatened.

When 2020 rolls around and we have the Black Lives Matter protests, James rose to fame outside of her fashion work (which was getting knocked off by brands that weren’t doing the same work, ethics, or credit for African workers she was doing), for how she founded the Fifteen Percent Pledge.

This is basically getting brands and retailers to commit 15% of their shelf spaces to Black businesses, which has been a massive success in some ways in getting these Black brands into the hands of consumers.

So there are two stories contained with memoir: the one of abuse and falling into its cycles as a youth, and how James came to overcome it and become a woman who is an advocate and ally. I think the memoir could have used a bit more focus, but conveys these stories pretty well.

Overall Thoughts

As I mentioned shortly before, I think this is a good memoir, but it needs more focus. It’s impossible to tell her story without including the childhood elements, but it’s such a jump with any connection back really that it feels like a rollercoaster all the way to the top with James.

I think this could’ve benefitted with time and James publishing more books as she grows more successful—I think this critique isn’t against her or the writing, but more like the publishing industry’s tendency to crank out memoirs and biographies before the person is ready.

All in all though, this is a solid memoir.

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