It was truly a presentation to remember and a core tenet of this season’s NYFW. Amid the congratulations and praise being sung to all of the designers backstage, office had a chance to speak with Khiry’s Jameel Mohammed, House of Aama’s mother and daughter duo, Rebecca Henry and Akua Shabaka, and Third Crown’s husband and wife duo, Kofi and Kristin Essel. Take a look into each show and each brand’s vision below.
Third Crown
As a New York City brand, how does it feel to be able to show your work at such a prominent event — NYFW?
Kofi Essel — I mean, it's amazing. It's one of the biggest steps in anyone's fashion career to be in New York Fashion Week.
Kristin Essel — It's the dream.
This show was a really great opportunity for you guys to be able to do this with two other really powerful black designers. So how did it feel to be a part of something like that today?
Kofi — It's amazing. We're always rooting for our counterparts and our friends. Because we are friends with them outside of this opportunity as well. So us coming together to do this was incredible. We're doing this together. We're supporting each other. It's great to have that community always around you to go through such intense moments.
Obviously, a huge theme of everything today was empowerment. And I think that will probably carry on for all of you guys, through your designs, but how do you plan to continue empowering your wearers through your designs?
Kofi — One of the gaps that we saw in the industry was that traditional jewelry was one of the big things that everyone would pursue, but for us, our designs are about wearing something more bold and dynamic, but still wearing it every day. Because going back to our roots of Africa, chiefs and kings wore bold jewelry to stand out from everyone else. That's something that we translate into our jewelry as well. We make bold pieces that can be worn every day — statement pieces that empower you while you're wearing them. It's not a basic chain, it's something that's been well designed.
Kristin — Our pieces really do stand out.
Kofi — They give you that added confidence when you put on an outfit together and add those pieces; it makes you feel like you can take on the world. So that's what we envision for our pieces, and with our new collection, we incorporated gemstones that give certain elements to the person that's wearing it. That's an added bonus. You're going out there and feeling more confident and the stones are giving you everything that you feel inside.