During what I would call my rookie season—my first season as an editor—of New York Fashion Week back in the fall, I attended the Black in Fashion Council showroom preview held in Downtown Manhattan at Spring Studios. I was obviously bursting with excitement to just be attending fashion week in the first place, but to get to go to this preview in particular meant a lot to me. As a young Black girl, I was always hungry for all things glamour and fashion and spent my time dreaming about what it would be like to become an editor, so walking into a fashion-week preview that was so unapologetically Black did more for me than I had imagined it would. What really stood out to me was my conversation with designer Kwame Adusei. Both of us have African roots (he is from Ghana, and I am a first-generation American with a father from Malawi), so we immediately bonded over our love for fashion and African culture. While Kwame walked me through his collection, he told me, “The truth is we can wear anything and be fly because we are Black. It’s just in us.” His comment made me start to think about how Blackness translates to style and swag.
When I think of the Black fashion editors, publicists, and influencers who I follow and work with and who inspire me, they all have it. It’s not something that you can exactly put your finger on, and it’s not something that is a one-size-fits-all type of energy. It’s a certain je ne sais quoi in style, confidence, strength, and beauty that radiates from them, and it’s how they have figured out how to have such strong personal style. Before Black History Month comes to an end, I had to tap some of my favorite Black fashion experts to learn about the brands hanging in their highly curated closets. These eight Black fashion experts who are all based in New York City spilled on the brands they connect with and are loving at the moment.
Their answers not only put me on to new designers that I cannot wait to try for myself, but they also highlighted so many Black fashion designers that you, after reading this, will be obsessed with, too, if you aren’t already. Keep scrolling to read my conversations with some of the most stylish Black fashion people, learn about my own favorites, and even shop the brands we can’t get enough of.
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