Designer addresses police brutality during NYFW Show

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The founder of Pyer Moss, Kerby Jean-Raymond, decided he wasn’t going to show off his clothing during the fashion show. Instead, he wanted to show a video.

The video, which was about fifteen minutes long, brought gasps from the audience as it played no less than sixteen different cases of police brutality. It showed the cases familiar to the national consciousness, such as Eric Garner, as well as several that had not been in the public spotlight. There were also interviews from people who had been close to those affected by police brutality.

“For as long as I have this platform and for as long as people are going to listen to me — I’m going to take a stand on something and this is something that is important to me,” Jean-Raymond told The Huffington Post.

In fact, the topic was so important to Jean-Raymond that he almost didn’t show the clothes at all. “I decided to show the clothes last-minute,” Jean-Raymond said. “I just wanted to show the video.”

“I wasn’t even going to show the collection. I wasn’t 100% sold on showing the collection. I wanted to just show the video, open the doors and let everyone out.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqyX5UpzUf0

The clothes themselves were a testament to the movement against police brutality, including a shirt that said “Breathe, Breathe, Breathe.”

“If one person walks out of here today and is just nicer, or gives an opportunity… there are so many influential people in that room upstairs. If one person decides that I’m going to give a black kid a job now because the narrative I’ve been seeing on TV of him being a thug may or may not be true, I did my job. I changed one life and one life might change another life — and that’s how the world changes. Little by little,” Jean-Raymond said.

Check out some photos of the shoot below.