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A Recipe for Black Girl Magic: Nikia Phoenix Invites You to Brunch
Nikia Phoenix is the model, influencer and world traveler whose fresh, freckled face and cornrows enchanted us in the 23andMe commercial. You know the one: where she motorcycles and dune-buggies around the world, emerging from the waters in each new destination as if reborn in the newly found recognition of her DNA. True to the…
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Belieni: A Sneaker Is Born
In your wildest dreams, would you change your life and your career and follow your passion all the way to Italy to design luxury sneakers? That’s exactly what this brother—who goes by the single name of Belieni (bel-ee-AH-nee)—did. Belieni is a self-taught designer from the Potomac Gardens projects in Washington, D.C. While enlisted in the…
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Fashion Forecast: Stylist Zerina Akers Has Got Your Color
Fashion is one of my favorite conversations—I say, the more the merrier. So when imaging expert Zerina Akers says, “Hey, come meet me and let’s talk spring trends,” I say it’s time to get your chat on, ladies. Akers’ client list currently includes Ava DuVernay, Yara Shahidi and Niecy Nash, to name a few. But…
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Dascha Polanco and Dove: Believing in Your Beauty Is Power
You’d never know that Dascha Polanco, star of Netflix’s hit series Orange Is the New Black and, more recently, a recurring character in FX’s miniseries American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, almost didn’t become an actress because she lacked confidence in her body type. “Growing up,” she tells The Glow Up, “the beauty…
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Sean John x Jean-Michel Basquiat: A 20th-Anniversary Collaboration Honoring the Radiant Child
For the 20th anniversary of his Sean Jean clothing brand, Sean “Puffy” Combs’ latest artist collaboration is a partly posthumous one: a five-piece T-shirt-and-denim capsule collection featuring the work of painter Jean-Michel Basquiat. Combs—obviously also known as “Diddy”—and Jay-Z both collect the late painter and revere him in their lyrics. As Diddy rhymes in the…
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Paris Fashion Week: Balmain Wants You to #JoinMyReality
Balmain, designed by 32-year-old Olivier Rousteing, the first person of color to head a French heritage brand, literally dazzled the crowd gathered at Paris City Hall for its Fall/Winter 2018/2019 presentation. Olivier R.—as the designer prefers to be called—sent out his #BalmainArmy in futuristic fabrics inspired by fantasies of a soon-to-be-real cyber mashup world. Holographic…
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Wrap Your Head Around This: Imaan and Iman Cover Vogue Arabia’s Anniversary Issue
I’m in love with Vogue Arabia’s first anniversary cover, which features the legendary Somalian supermodel Iman and this generation’s phenom, Imaan Hammam, a Dutch-born supermodel of Moroccan and Egyptian heritage. Wearing traditional head wraps, cloaked in clouds of Marabou feathers fresh off the couture runway of Saint Laurent, the two wonderful women—both of whom I’m…
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Paris Fashion Week: I Am Woman, Hear Me Dior
Dior makes very pretty clothes that are as easy to wear as they are to understand. I say that because, often, clothes can be pretty but puzzling at the same time. Now, under the direction of designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior speaks to women loud and clear. What’s Grazia Chiuri got to say? For one,…
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On Target? Black Beauty
Target is fast becoming the mass-market hub for black-owned beauty brands. Customer demand for high-quality products with a luxury feel aimed at a black and brown audience—ticketed at drugstore price points—has been pent up for decades. This is in response to shifting demographics as much as customer needs; by 2028, the majority of Americans 18-25…
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Love, Italian Style: #BlackGirlMagic at Milan Fashion Week
Black girls have been ruling the runways this Milan Fashion Week (Feb. 21-Feb. 28). Case in point: For the first time since Naomi Campbell’s opening strut back in 1997, Prada tapped a black model to open its fashion show (Jourdan Dunn is the only other black model to be booked by this global powerhouse brand…
