My obsession with fashion began in one of the most non conventional places on earth; Church! I remember my grandparents being dressed to the nines every Sunday. My grandma wore the big hats and looked so beautiful color coordinated. The bright red colors looked so beautiful against her brown skin. That obsession with fashion quickly trickled down to my parents. They would dress up my brothers, sisters and I for major holidays like Easter and Christmas. That tradition then followed us to school. We would have to dress up once a week. The frilly bows, curls and shiny shoes were just the sweetest thing.
Fast forward about 5 or 6 years later. I was 16 years old. The love of fashion was passed down to my two older sisters. I watched them be obsessed with then MTV’s, ‘House of Style!’ Amber Valletta was the host in the 90’s! Most of the models that were represented on MTV didn’t look anything like me but I continued to watch in hopes that one day, there would be more of a brown skinned modeling industry. My prayers were answered. As soon as I began moving around after college, I saw the groundwork being laid for a more diverse fashion week nationwide.
Fast forward to September 2021, New York Fashion Week. Fashion designers Helmut Lang and Brandon Maxwell were using multiple darker skinned models in their shows which I hadn’t seen before. Blackness is breaking new ground with more black models in fashion. Helmut Lang is an 81 year old Australian designer who has been representing the fashion industry since his 20’s. Then we have Brandon Maxwell, a 36 year old American designer who uses the darkest male and female models throughout fashion week. The bold, bright colors used in both these shows made the African representation even more present.
Moving on to two designers who cater more towards affluent, white women; Louis Vuitton and Dior. If you paid attention to fashion over the past several decades, you would recognize the lack of diversity in any and just about ALL of Louis Vuitton’s fashion weeks. I remember when I bought my first Louis Vuitton handbag in Miami, Florida, there were NO people of color in the store. Not a soul. This year, Vuitton used lots of shorter and curvier black women in their shows. Judging from the pictures I saw from social media, Dior followed their lead. I cannot say that I didn’t love it. Their were lots of bikini tops with bold suits and skirts with structured blazers. I really enjoyed seeing all of the diversity this year. Dior was also a lot more playful this year with an Alice In Wonderland themed fashion house.
Every year that I am able to follow #NYFW, I dream of the day when I’ll be able to attend the real deal. Prominent NY fashion influencer, Sai De Silva, has been attending fashion week for years. She has amassed a following of close to 400,000 followers on Instagram. She talks about renting clothes from Rent The Runway for a much cheaper price and how at times, designers loan her clothes for the week in exchange for endless plugs on social media. I remember attending this beautiful, plush and extremely expensive Indian wedding in 2016 at the Boston Park Plaza. A friend rented this beautiful Carolina Herrera gown for the wedding. It was breathtaking. Rent The Runway has become the premier fashion house for influencers at fashion week. When I’m able to attend in person, as opposed to watching from home, I’ll be in a position to choose between using Rent The Runway or buying my own designer clothes. I’m striving for the latter🤩 Let’s GO!
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