Black in style: Naomi’s museum moment, Beyoncé’s final bow in Ivy Park, and Kaep’s show of strength
This week in Black style, Torishéju Dumi makes her Paris Fashion Week debut, Misty Copeland makes activewear, and SEPHORiA returns.
If you’ve ever considered Naomi Campbell a walking work of art, you’re not alone. The supermodel’s style, advocacy and groundbreaking (and ongoing!) career have been deemed museum-worthy by the famed Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
From June 22, 2024, to April 6, 2025, the exhibition “Naomi” will be on display at V&A, featuring selections of the supermodel’s collection of clothing and personal objects from designers including Alexander McQueen, Azzedine Alaïa, Gianni and Donatella Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, Vivienne Westwood and Yves Saint Laurent, as well as a visual installation curated by outgoing British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, according to Women’s Wear Daily.
“Naomi Campbell’s extraordinary career intersects with the best of high fashion,” Sonnet Stanfill, senior curator of fashion at the V&A, told WWD. She is recognized worldwide as a supermodel, activist, philanthropist and creative collaborator, making her one of the most prolific and influential figures in contemporary culture.”
As for Campbell, she simply stated: “I’m honored to be asked by the V&A to share my life in clothes with the world.”
This week in Black style, Campbell lent her star power to designer Torishéju Franchesca Dumi’s Paris Fashion Week debut, SEPHORiA: House of Beauty returned with a global focus, Colin Kaepernick and Tunde Oyeneyin showed us what strength looks like, and much more.
‘Here I am’: Torishéju Dumi debuts her label at Paris Fashion Week
It is never easy to be a “first” or an “only,” but for her first foray on the final day of Paris Fashion Week — the only Black female designer to do so this season — Dumi debuted her eponymous label, Torishéju, in style.
Just ask Campbell, an avowed champion of emerging Black creatives who opened Dumi’s presentation in the Shangri-La Hotel’s ballroom. Or Paloma Elsesser and Alton Mason, who were among the beautiful faces parading Dumi’s evocative designs down the runway. What’s more? Backstage, Dumi’s collection was styled by Vogue Global Contributing Fashion Editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson.
According to Vogue, Dumi, a London College of Fashion and Central Saint Martins graduate, draws on her Nigerian and Brazilian heritage and Catholic upbringing for inspiration.
“I love that priestly aura. That’s what I really want to create in my work,” she told the magazine. “This collection, for me, it’s my introduction to fashion; just to say, ‘Here I am.’”
Naomi Campbell walks the runway during the Torisheju Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 03, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Antoine Flament/Getty Images)
Paloma Elsesser walks the runway during the Torisheju Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 03, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Antoine Flament/Getty Images)
A model walks the runway during the Torisheju Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 03, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Antoine Flament/Getty Images)
A model walks the runway during the Torisheju Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 03, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Antoine Flament/Getty Images)
A model walks the runway during the Torisheju Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 03, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Antoine Flament/Getty Images)
A model walks the runway during the Torisheju Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 03, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Antoine Flament/Getty Images)
A model walks the runway during the Torisheju Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 03, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Antoine Flament/Getty Images)
Fashion designer Torisheju Francesca Dumi greets the audience at the end of the Torisheju Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 03, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Antoine Flament/Getty Images)
Hanifa wants to walk you down the aisle
Hanifa is expanding its portfolio as a women’s ready-to-wear brand with plans to tap into the bridal sector. This week, the Black-owned fashion brand announced the upcoming debut of Hanifa Bridal.
“This collection represents the culmination of my years of experience in curation, attention to detail and exploration of the theme of love,” Anifa Mvuemba, the brand’s founder, said in a press release. “We have poured our hearts into creating a collection that embodies our brand’s commitment to self-discovery, self-acceptance, and love in all its forms, with emphasis on the importance of self-love and self-worth before marriage and drawing inspirations from symbols of devotion and grace.”
Like its ready-to-wear fashions, Hanifa Bridal will feature a wide range of sizes and shapes. In addition to incorporating custom beading, elegant gatherings, drapes, and delicate feathers, the brand will also offer customizations. More details about the collection’s price point, availability, and more will be available after its runway debut on Oct. 15.
Beyoncé’s last dance with Ivy Park
As Beyoncé took her final bow of the Renaissance World Tour in Kansas City, the star and her dancers sported pieces from the final Ivy Park x Adidas capsule. In an Instagram post, Beyoncé teased the final collection’s potential name, “Ivy Park Noir,” and the possibility of Ivy Park continuing beyond its Adidas collaboration.
“Felt great to design and wear the final IVY PARK drop (with adidas👀💃🏾🕺🏾🪩) on the final show of the RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR,” the “Black Parade” singer wrote in her Instagram caption. “The Blackout. IVY PARK NOIR dropping Oct 12.”
As seen in the onstage and campaign images in her latest post, the collection includes a mix of leather and shiny latex/patent leather styles. As reported by Highsnobiety, “Ivy Park Noir” will feature unique backpacks, bucket hats, jackets, shoes, leggings, tops, and more. Earlier this year, the Grammy award-winning artist and Adidas reportedly decided to part ways due to creative differences.
It’s a Spike Lee Joint at the Brooklyn Museum
From Oct. 7 to Feb. 4, Spike Lee is turning the Brooklyn Museum into the “Crooklyn” museum. This week, the filmmaker and director kicked off a new exhibit celebrating his career. Entitled “Spike Lee: Creative Sources,” the immersive experience is described to give attendees a rare glimpse into Lee’s world.
While exploring the award-winning creative’s personal collection, the exhibit features other prominent Black artists like Kehinde Wiley, Deborah Roberts and Michael Ray Charles. Just as the title suggests, the exhibition reveals the sources that fueled Lee’s art by highlighting sports, music, cinema, family and Black culture.
Tickets can be purchased at brooklynmuseum.org.
SEPHORiA: House of Beauty 2023 goes global
Last week, Sephora’s SEPHORiA: House of Beauty returned for its fifth year with a first-ever hybrid format, including a live ticketed event in New York City and virtual experiences extended across select global markets. The event featured over eight rooms and more than 50 unique brand activations, marking the beauty emporium’s most ambitious event to date.
With a focus on diversity, beauty influencers, celebrities and brands converged to host a series of activations, panels and master classes centered around more than 50 of Sephora’s most-loved brands and its coveted in-house assortment. Danessa Myricks, Tracee Ellis Ross, Patrick Ta, Fenty Beauty’s Hector Espinal and Sephora Collection Beauty Director Myiesha Sewell were among the event’s star-studded roster of talent and special guests.
SEPHORiA: House of Beauty may be over until next year, but beauty lovers can explore all Sephora has to offer as it launches its highly anticipated holiday beauty assortment soon — stay tuned for theGrio’s reviews.
Colin Kaepernick covers Men’s Health and Tunde Oyeneyin stars on Women’s Health
What does 35 years of strength look like? For Men’s Health, it looks like 35-year-old Colin Kaepernick, one of 35 men the magazine celebrates as the “Strongest Men of the Past 35 Years!” For its 35th anniversary October/November issue, Kaepernick joins fellow cover stars Chris Hemsworth and Travis Mills, and a list that includes Chadwick Boseman, RuPaul Charles, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Jordan and more. Inside the issue, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Mitchell S. Jackson pens an open letter to Kaepernick, a modern American hero.
“Our goal with the project is to showcase the ways that the perceptions and practices around strength — physical, mental, emotional, spiritual — have changed through the years,” Men’s Health editor-in-chief Richard Dorment wrote in his issue editor’s letter.
“Yeah, there’s plenty of muscle and speed. But there’s also courage, compassion, and so much character, and taken together, these guys form a mosaic of potential, a road map of progress, that can guide each of us toward a stronger, faster, better version of ourselves.”
On Women’s Health, Peloton cycling star, bestselling author and self-avowed “confidence builder” Tunde Oyeneyin covers one of its six “Forces of Fitness” issues, featuring women of all shapes, sizes, abilities and ages changing the industry for the better. As Oyeneyin explains inside the issue, her seemingly boundless confidence is a trait she cultivated — and is now helping others learn, too.
“People assume confidence is a trait you’re born with, but it’s a skill I’ve worked at and hustled to maintain,” she told Women’s Health.
“I don’t take for granted what it means to be not just a Black woman in this space, but such a recognized dark-skinned Black woman,” she added.
Check out the other women of the Forces of Fitness issue and more on Oyeneyin’s “superpower” in the October/November issue of Women’s Health.
Reach new levels of greatness in Misty Copeland’s activewear line
Ballerina Misty Copeland is tapping back into the activewear space with a specially curated womenswear collection. Copeland, a co-founder of the athlete-founded activewear line Greatness Wins, combined her experiences as a woman and an athlete to create the sports brand’s first collection of styles for women.
“For Greatness Wins’ first women’s collection, we felt it is really important that we take the time, during the development and design process, to make sure every item in the line would be accessible and appealing to all body types,” said Copeland, per WWD.
“As a dancer, athlete, and a mother, it can be very difficult to find performance wear that truly hits the mark on fit. I wanted this collection to empower women to pursue their passions and achieve their goals, whatever they may be. It’s about helping all types of women find their fitness journey.”
Described as flattering, comfortable and soft, the collection features leggings, joggers, dresses, shorts, t-shirts, sports bras and jackets. Pieces within the brand’s inaugural womenswear line, ranging between $54 and $115, are available to shop at greatnesswins.com.
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