Whose World Is This? The (Black Design) World Is Theirs

The haters say they're going to hate it. But they won't. They'll love it just as much as the fans.

Simone Biles is the Worldโ€™s Greatest. This month, Biles brings her unequivocal joy and grace to Glamour, as the greatest gymnast in history graces the June cover wearing a white embroidered dress and grin that would light up a whole room.

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Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?

The Olympian stuns in a collection of red, white and blue garments and backdrops, photographed by The Glow Up 50 2020 honoree Kennedi Carter. Bilesโ€™ physical and mental strength are evident in this shoot models both flowing and body-skimming silhouettes, showing the juxtaposition between her newly discovered and cherished mental state and the mind-blowing physical strength that has been seen in the four moves named for her.

In the cover story, she discusses the emotional weight of being quarantined, explaining how she โ€œgot to go through being angry, sad, upset, happy, annoyed. I got to go through all of it by myself, without anybody telling me what to feel.โ€ The phenom is still not sure if sheโ€™ll continue competing past the 2024 Olympics (โ€œIโ€™m just really excited to see whatโ€™s out there in the world and to see what else Iโ€™m good at,โ€ she says), but as depression descended, she was reminded of why she does what she doesโ€”and what would happen if it all went away.

So she trained like the Tokyo Olympics were tomorrow, and all her hard work paid off. She debuted her new leotards on June 6 at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, each bedazzled in the word GOAT, reminding her fansโ€”and her hatersโ€”who really is the worldโ€™s best.

Fashion. Culture. Futures.

One of the best things to come out of quarantine? Virtual events and symposiums. There are so many events I want to attend but I donโ€™t always want to take off my sweatpants. That being said, some of the greatest designers and figures in Black fashion are making that โ€œsweatpants, hair tied, chilling with no makeup on,โ€ vibe happen while giving us a boatload of information about Black fashion and culture.

Case in point: the two-part symposium titled Fashion, Culture, Futures: African American Ingenuity, Activism, and Storytelling hosted by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian and the Smithsonianโ€™s National Museum of African American History and Culture. The program will cover all facets of the fashion world from academics to critics and designers to models, artists and activists. Noted fashion historian and 2020 TGU 50 honoree Kimberly Jenkins will moderate a discussion between Kennedi Carter, Aaron Rose Philip and Essence CEO Carolina Wanga and Law Roach will present the keynote conversation. The first day of the program is June 17 and the second symposium date is October 21, 2021 (subject to change).

Tiffanyโ€™s Got the T

The Tracee, that is. After being a fan for decades and constantly showing us how jewelry can be so definitive to oneโ€™s personal style, itโ€™s high time she was named one of Tiffany & Coโ€™s global house ambassadors. Ross tells Harperโ€™s Bazaar: โ€œWe lived at 59th and Fifth, and I used to make little excursions and walk to the Tiffanyโ€™s store, and visit with the jewelryโ€”particularly the pieces that I was coveting. I remember I landed on the gold Elsa Peretti kidney bean necklace, and I messaged my mom [immediately about it].โ€

Though Ross has kept us all enraptured with her glamorous Instagram pictures during the last year and a half, she is now able to infuse some of that trademark Tracee joy into Tiffanyโ€™s collection, โ€œT1,โ€ just in time for red carpets and events to open back up again.

Pharrell x Chanel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToN4ziXUHdY

Pharrell and Chanel are not frontinโ€™. Pharrellโ€™s initiative Black Ambition, which provides resources to HBCU students and entrepreneurs, has teamed up with Chanel to incorporate their mission and ideals into the labelโ€™s two-part learning program. Part one includes a discussion between a diverse panel of women who each have different areas of expertise. The conversation, set to start on July 11, will be moderated by Harperโ€™s Bazaar Editor-in-Chief Samira Nasr, Black-ish actor and founder of Pattern Beauty Tracee Ellis Ross, co-founder of Good American Emma Grede, and more. Setting out to support HBCU students, Pharrell finds this initiative close to his heart, especially considering he has had multiple partnerships with Chanel, was friends with its late creative director Karl Lagerfeld, and is one of the brandโ€™s many ambassadors.

Itโ€™s All in the Details

Black hair is something to be treasured and seen through joyous eyes. For its 50th year, British luxury and lifestyle brand Mulberry tapped Priya Ahluwalia, recipient of Queen Elizabeth IIโ€™s design award, to create a collection celebrating Black hair. Ahluwalia uses her expertise in combining symbolism and the intersectionality of race and fashion to create a small capsule of handbags and accessories. This collection marks Ahluwaliaโ€™s debut in accessories, but her bold and creative patterns make it clear consumers will want her to continue with these types of products in the future.

โ€œMulberry is a brand that I have memories of from childhood, ever since I used to borrow my mumโ€™s own bag, so this was an opportunity to collaborate with a brand that is very meaningful to me,โ€ Ahluwalia told Harperโ€™s Bazaar. The collection was first shown at Ahluwaliaโ€™s runway show at London Fashion Week and was directed by BFTA-nominated Akinola Davies Jr. as โ€œan homage to the role hair plays in Black culture.โ€

#BlackDesignVisionaries

Instagram started as a place of #SelfieSunday and #ThrowbackThursday and has since evolved into a space where Black designers can showcase their work for the world to see. And the worldโ€”or at least the Brooklyn Museumโ€”has seen it. The museum has partnered with Instagramโ€™s @design to roll out a $130,000 grant titled #BlackDesignVisionaries, to provide funds to Black designers. #BlackDesignVisionaries has two tiers of awardsโ€”the first awarding $10,000 to three designers between the ages of 18 and 30, and $100,000 to a small Black-owned design or fashion business with under 10 years of public practice.

Applications are open now through July 16 and will be reviewed by a โ€œcommittee of trailblazing Black designers and design thought leaders,โ€ per a press release provided to The Root.

The Real Housewives of Telfar

Telfar Clemens and the Real Housewives of Potomac recently collaborated on Telfarโ€™s newest collection, Ugg x Telfar. Clemens is the creator of one of the most popular yet exclusive handbags to date, so it seemed only fitting he recruit Mia Thornton, Gizelle Bryant, Candiace Dillard Bassett, Dr. Wendy Osefo, Karen Huger, Robyn Dixon and Ashley to model his new line over a two-day fun-filled shoot at his home. The collection features boots and handbagsโ€”obviouslyโ€”as well as other retail items, including couture sequin gowns. This little shoot is only a prequel for what is to come in September. More information about the collection and collaboration can be found here.

Lounging with Leyna Bloom

Lounging in the center of a lush green field, actress and TGU 50 honoree Leyna Bloom models and debuts Victor Glemaudโ€™s Resort 2022 collection. This year, the Met Gala may be delayed until September, but we have the theme: American fashionโ€”and Glemaud has taken that mood and incorporated it into his knitwear collection, โ€œAmerican Beauty.โ€ Bloom models multiple color-blocked sets with detailed side and back paneling as well as chic white, red and tan one-pieces. You might be skeptical upon hearing the words โ€œresort knitwearโ€ but the beauty and grace Bloom exudes as she debuts the collection wipes all of that skepticism away.

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