White Fashion

In March 2022, FX announced that the sixth episode of the season would be titled "White Fashion" and that it would be written and directed by supervising producer Ibra Ake. This was Ake's second writing credit, and first directing credit.[1]

The episode explored concepts like racism in the fashion industry, All Lives Matter, and gentrification. GQ noted how the episode felt inspired by many companies such as Prada, Burberry, and Gucci, all of which found themselves under controversy for releasing "products deemed racially insensitive."[2] It also stated, "The show's message of an unpayable debt rings particularly true in the fashion industry. Historically, fashion brands have taken trends from black communities (often without credit), while often giving very little back. And while there are still plenty of real-world analogues for Bouchet, black designers in positions of power are trying to change things."[2]

Cracked.com noted parallels with main cast actor Donald Glover, who struck a deal with Adidas in 2018. The company was criticized for a racial incident as well as its noted "racist practices". It further added, "'White Fashion' has much more to say about a culture of appropriation and exploitation, and it's also entirely possible that, since this kind of corporate bias and ensuing inept response is alarmingly common, the Adidas thing played no part in the inspiration for this episode."[3]

The episode was watched by 0.203 million viewers, earning a 0.1 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale. This means that 0.1 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode.[4] This was a 30% decrease from the previous episode, which was watched by 0.290 million viewers with a 0.1 in the 18-49 demographics.[5]

"White Fashion" received critical acclaim. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating for the episode, based on 5 reviews with an average rating of 8.5/10.[6]

Michael Martin of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A-" and wrote, "'White Fashion' asks, Who deserves to cut corners to recoup in a fundamentally corrupt and shameful system? The season will play differently once it's bingeable and you don't have so much time to wonder about how much is occurring in actuality. In the meantime, this episode of Atlanta forces you to ask: Where are we, really, right now? And that seems to be precisely the point."[7]

Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone wrote, "Atlanta is back in social satire mode with the exceedingly sharp 'White Fashion', the kind of tale where if you didn't laugh, you'd scream — and wind up doing both anyway."[8] Aric Jenkins of The Ringer wrote, "The moral of the story, it seems, is that Earn was right. Al initially had leverage to demand a diversity program on his own terms. Instead, he accepted material goods to do it Esco Esco's way, and this is the ultimate result. Then again, Esco Esco did say the charity could be of Al's choosing. Just like Sharon said she wanted to work with Mimi, not buy out her business. Maybe the real lesson, Atlanta is saying, is to be careful with which white people you trust."[9]

Jordan Taliha McDonald of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "While Paper Boi's tour has provided a roadmap for this season, black grievance and white guilt have made way for detours."[10] Deshawn Thomas /Film wrote, "Unfortunately, this week on Atlanta we are not provided with any sort of resolution or follow-up concerning the events of the previous episode, 'Cancer Attack.' There's no more Socks, and no more mention of Al's missing phone. It's a weird narrative choice, and I'm normally all for weird, but I imagine this will leave more than a few fans of the series feeling justifiably frustrated. Instead, episode 6 of Atlanta season 3, entitled 'White Fashion', leaps a few weeks into the future and focuses on the topics of performative activism and selling out. In true Atlanta fashion, the episode is filled with referential humor and heavily influenced by real-world events."[11]

Kyndall Cunningham of The Daily Beast was positive of the ideas behind the episode but questioned its execution, "It's debatable, throughout the course of the episode, whether Ake thinks the audience should loathe or respect Khalil's hustle — especially by the end — given that he's taken rightful advantage of white people's useless guilt but also perpetuating this idea that racism can be eradicated with conservative, ultimately hollow gestures of solidarity."[12]