VIDEO: Black Lives Matter arrives at a New York Fashion Week
Fashion designer Kerby Jean-Raymond’s show for the Pyer Moss label caused quite a stir at New York Fashion week by playing videos of police brutality before showing his new collection.
It was a creative choice that Jean-Raymond was reportedly unsure he would include.
“I was making a collection. I didn’t know I was actually gonna show it,” he told the AP. “I was gonna kind of like hold up a mirror to the room with a video.”
The video shocked audience members, most of whom didn’t know it was planned.
“During the show’s opening video, which combined the images of confrontation with a range of interviews with singer Usher and others on the need for change, people in the audience gasped or murmured,” the AP reported. “In an added touch, artist Gregory Siff moved among the models on the runway, quickly tagging the mostly stark, sportish clothes.”
Jean-Raymond reportedly received pushback from the fashion community, which was upset byboth the videos as well as the attendance of police brutality victim’s family members in front row of the show.
“I’m black, I’m a designer, I’m living in a time when this is happening,” the designer said. “You’re 28 years old, you’re watching kids younger than you who are being killed by grown men who claim fear as an excuse.”
Below are several videos from the show:
