Words by Mitchel Tanyaradzwa
Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss gave us the real rich aunty vibes in his first Fall/Winter 2021 Haute Couture that was such a statement-making, especially in the Black Culture. The show took place at Villa Lewaro a 20,000-square-foot mansion built and lived in by Madam C.J. Walker—one of America’s most famous Black self-made millionaires.
It rained before his show and you know what they say the rains clean everything. So yes, the universe might have done it again cleaning up the air for Pyer Moss that showcase his incredible work. We’re here for it!
"We are an invention inside of an invention. Inside of the creation of race, we made blackness. Uprooted from home and put in a foreign land, we made culture. And when they tried to strip our humanity, we made freedom so tethered to each other that it still shapes the world today," said the notes of the show.
"The stories the world tells us about us are about pain," he continued. "The stories we tell about each other about our own lives are about how grandma loved us with bible verses and lemonade, how bloodlines never defined who our aunts and uncles were, how the house was always big enough to take in everybody we loved. We hold stories of glory in our bodies. Black imagination is this world's greatest technology."
The designer backstage; talking to WWD’s Booth Moore, talking about the collection he went on to say: "I'm always reversing the erasure of Black people in the larger conversation around the African diaspora. But we need to evolve that conversation every time. I wanted this to be new, imperfect and fun. And some of the pieces are super hilarious to me, like the peanut butter one."
Take a look at the collection below:
