Chicago-born designer, stylist, and DJ Virgil Abloh was a man of many talents. An Architect by trade, in 2009, Abloh switched gears from architecture to fashion when he interned for Fendi in Rome. Later that year, along with Don C, he founded RSVP Gallery, a menswear boutique and art gallery in Chicago, and later became creative director of Kanye West's creative agency Donda. In 2012, Abloh launched his first line called "Pyrex Vision," screen-printing his logo on deadstock Ralph Lauren T-shirts and flannels. During this time, he also collaborated with Matthew Williams and Heron Preston on the line "Been Trill." When Pyrex closed in 2013 Abloh started "Off-White," a label described as a "multi-platform creative endeavor." Its main medium is fashion. At Off-White, he combines ideas of streetwear, luxury, art, music, and travel, defining the brand as “the gray area between black and white, as the color Off-White.” The brand quickly became beloved by celebrities and fashion insiders. He has collaborated with Nike and Jordan brand making his sneakers some of the best-selling styles in Nike's history. In 2015, Abloh was a finalist for the LVMH Prize and in 2018 became the first Black artistic director of Louis Vuitton. In January 2022, Abloh lost his battle with cancer, leaving behind a wife and two children. 

NYC designer, LaQuan Smith has been making clothes since he was a teenager. At 13-years-old he inherited his first sewing machine from his grandmother when she passed away. Although he was rejected from FIT and Parsons, but Smith didn't let that stop him. His break into the industry was an internship with Blackbook magazine and stylist Elizabeth Sulcer; his new job gave him access to events and parties where he became his own walking advertisement. Smith would sport his own designs and give away free clothes in order to make a name for himself. Since his first collection, Smith's brand has soared, with a high-profile client list that includes Beyoncé, Rihanna, La La Anthony, and Cardi B. He has since expanded to the mass market with a major partnership with ASOS and a collaboration with Revolve. For his recent New York Fashion Week show, Smith dedicated the runway to his mentor, Andre Leon Talley. The show featured Julia Fox and exhibited models wearing red sequined dresses, faux fur corsets, cut-out frocks, gold leggings, miniskirts, and Lurex tights.

As a child, British-born Ozwald Boateng was inspired by his father's immaculate suits. At eight, his mother gave him his first suit—a double-breasted in purple mohair. At 14, he found a summer job sewing linings into suits. It was his girlfriend who ultimately got him into designing when he was 16. In 1987, Boateng helped his friend make clothes for a fashion show, and his work received high praise. He sold his first collection to a menswear shop in Covent Garden, which allowed him to open his own studio in London in 1991. In 1994, Boateng was the first tailor to have a show during Paris Fashion Week. He then opened a boutique on the famed Saville Row in 1995. Boateng's contemporary approach to menswear design helped to forge a new appreciation for Savile Row and draw in a younger demographic. To this day it remains the only Black-owned store on Saville Row. In 2004, Boateng was named Creative Director of Menswear at Givenchy, specifically hired to "reinvent the French gentleman." Boateng was commissioned by the President of the Republic of Ghana to design and orchestrate a show at the 9th Annual African Union summit in 2007. In 2018, Boateng designed new uniforms for British Airways.

The industry newcomer making waves, Christopher John Rogers has been named one to watch by many. Robin Givhan put it perfectly: "His work is boisterous, deafening and dramatic. Sometimes it’s extraordinarily, proudly gaudy. He is the fashion industry’s latest obsession." The recent graduate from the Savannah College of Art and Design has a lot of accomplishments under his belt. In 2019, he won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award, he has been named on Forbes 30 under 30 list. He has also dressed some impressive figures, including Michelle Obama, Lizzo, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Kerby Jean-Raymond is a Haitian American fashion designer and founder of Pyer Moss, a brand concerned with building a narrative that speaks about heritage and activism. He's known for his thought-provoking runway shows, which highlight the Black experience and political issues. Jean-Raymond has also just announced that he will be leaving his role as the Global Creative Director at Reebok. 

Even though she closed the doors on her namesake brand last year, Carly Cushnie will be remembered for its modern approach to feminine style. The CUSHNIE aesthetic is rooted in clean lines and artful tailoring. Exuding a refined sense of femininity and minimalist sophistication, every detail is carefully considered with the female form in mind. Her clothes have been worn by Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Lupita Ny'Ongo, and Jennifer Hudson. Cushnie will always be a role model for other young designers of color.

Influenced by '90s streetwear, Shayne Oliver brings a downtown edge to his celebrity-loved brand Hood by Air, a fashion brand he established together with designer Raul Lopez in 2006. In 2013, Oliver was named among The 25 Greatest Black Fashion Designers by Complex. After contributing to minimalist favorite Helmut Lang, he took a three-year hiatus from fashion and rebooted the HBA brand in 2020 with a new concept. His new mission is to build direct-to-consumer connections, reproduce the brand's archives, and support emerging BIPOC creatives.

Board member of the CFDA since 2007, American fashion designer Tracy Reese specializes in women's ready-to-wear clothing, accessories, and home fashions such as linens. Her brand Hope for Flowers is a sustainable, brand that is designed for women who are inspired by beauty and who also desire to use their power as consumers to be agents for positive change in the world.

Jeffrey Banks was born in 1955 and started out as an assistant at Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein while pursuing his fashion studies at Pratt Institute and Parsons School of Design. He has claimed credit for Calvin Klein's iconic logo garments, stating that he had the logo from a press folder silkscreened onto the sleeve of a brown T-shirt as a present for Klein. Today we know and love Calvin Klein logo print tees, undergarments, and athleisure.

Banks launched his namesake menswear label in 1977, and most recently, co-authored Perry Ellis: An American Original, a book about the famed American designer.

Haitian-born Victor Glemaud was raised in NYC, where he attended FIT. An internship for Patrick Robinson turned into an assistant designer position. After graduation, Glemaud worked as a fashion publicist. When he moved to Paris for his job, his mentor Robinson was there as Art Director for Paco Rabanne. The timing was perfect: Glemaud went back to work with Robinson and was appointed as the Studio Director for Paco Rabanne. Three years later Glemaud launched his own menswear collection—just seven looks that were sold at high-profile boutiques. Glemaud realized that he had a lucrative business on his hands, so he packed up and moved back to New York. To fund his new collection, Glemaud worked as the Style Director at Tommy Hilfiger. Upon leaving Tommy Hilfiger, Glemaud stopped designing completely, opting to travel the world, clear his head, and gain new inspiration. He returned to relaunch his brand and the colorful knit sweaters he's known for today. Glemaud was a finalist in the 2017 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and was honored for his achievements at an event in Washington D.C. by His Excellency Paul Altidor, Ambassador of Haiti to the United States. Glemaud is currently sold at Glemaud.com, as well as Moda Operandi, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Shopbop.

Stella Jean was raised in Rome by a Haitian mother and Italian father at "a time when the country was completely unprepared for multicultural families like mine...people constantly stopped in the streets to point at us.” But Jean credits her mixed background for her later success: Jean took her father's basic button-down shirts and mixed them with bright fabrics. This led to her main source of design inspiration: combining different cultures. Jean won Vogue Italy's "Who Is On Next?" competition in 2011. In 2014, Giorgio Armani showcased Stella Jean's collection at the Armani theatre in Milan, and she was the first womenswear designer to present in the iconic space. That same year, Jean collaborated with Christian Louboutin on a shoe collection. With high-profile collaborations under her belt, Jean was invited by the UN International Development Organization to join an ethical fashion program. Jean has also garnered an impressive list of celebrity clientele, including Beyoncé and Rihanna. Even with all of her global attention, Jean believes fashion shouldn't be exclusive. By inviting craftsmen and artisans to sit in the front row at her shows, she honors the people who made it all possible.

American entrepreneur, fashion designer, TV personality, author, philanthropist, and model Kimora Lee Simmons launched her fashion line Baby Phat by Kimora Lee Simmons in 1999. The womenswear brand that embodied the '90s baby tees and bedazzled jeans trend became a billion-dollar company. On the nose of 2000s nostalgia in fashion, she relaunched the label in 2019 with her teen daughters Ming and Aoki Lee Simmons as the faces of the brand.

Stephen Burrows was born in New Jersey in 1943. He studied at Fashion Institute of Design.

Burrows clothes were steeped in the wild and carefree culture of the '60s and '70s. He ran with the Andy Warhol crowd at the factory, and women could often be seen out in the discos in his creations. He was the only black designer to participate in the Battle of Versailles, a historic fashion show held at Versailles in 1973, that pitted five French designers (Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro, Christian Dior, and Hubert de Givenchy) against five American designers (Anne Klein, Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, and Halston, alongside Burrows). That same year, he debuted a line of lingerie that was sold at all the biggest boutiques of the time.

In 1978 Farrah Fawcett wore his gold chainmail dress to the Academy Awards, and First Lady Michelle Obama wore a yellow, matte jersey suit for multiple official events in 2010.

Willi Smith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1948 and studied commercial art and illustration before making his way to New York to study fashion at Parsons The New School for Design.

He set the precedent for streetwear as we know it. “I don't design clothes for the queen but the people who wave at her as she goes by,” he once said. 

His label that launched in 1976, WilliWear Limited, grossed over $25 million in sales by 1986 according to The Guardian. Inspired by the fashion he saw on the streets and also his desire to shape it, Smith’s accessibility and affordability of clothing helped democratize fashion.

Throughout his career, he collaborated with Spike Lee, the artist Christo, and even designed the wedding dress Mary Kane wore when she married Peter Parker in the Spider-Man comic book in 1987. In 1988, a year after his death, Smith was honored by the New York City mayor David Dinkins, who proclaimed February 23 "Willi Smith Day." He also has a plaque on the Fashion Walk of Fame on Seventh Avenue.

Patrick Kelly was born in 1954 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and studied art at Parson School of Design.

Kelly was working as an unpaid window-dresser at an Yves Saint Laurent store in Atlanta when in 1988 Pierre Bergé personally paid for him to launch his own label, Patrick Kelly Paris. He went on to become the first person of color to be admitted to the famed Chambre Syndicale du Pret-a-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode. 

Kelly’s designs are recognized for being extremely exuberant, humorous and for referencing pop culture and Black traditions. 

He died at 35 in 1990 after complications from AIDS. In the years that followed, retrospectives of his work were shown at both the Brooklyn Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

During the protests for Black Lives Matter earlier last year, Kelly’s name appeared in the news as The Kelly Initiative, a coalition of Black professionals that advocates for equal employment opportunities within the industry for Black talents.v

Dapper Dan was born Daniel Day in Harlem and created flashy clothing, leather items, and car interiors, usually with unauthorized designer logos in the ’80s and ’90s until he was eventually forced to closed his atelier because of copyright infringement lawsuits.

His work was featured in the movie “Paid In Full,” and famous faces like Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather Jr and LL Cool J. He currently works out of his Harlem atelier in partnership with Gucci.

Jay Jaxon was born in Queens, New York in 1941 and was introduced to the fashion industry by his girlfriend at the time who was a seamstress.

Eventually he made his way to Paris, spending time at Yves Saint Laurent (where he trained under the designer), and Christian Dior. In 1965, at the age of 24, he took over the house of Jean-Louis Scherrer, making him not only the first black couturier, but the first American couturier. Later in his career, he would work on TV shows like Ally McBeal and American Dreams. He died in 2006 at the age of 65, of complication from prostate cancer.

Ann Lowe was the first African-American to become a fairly renowned fashion designer. She was born in rural Clayton, Alabama, in 1898. She was the great-granddaughter of an enslaved woman and an Alabama plantation owner. Ann attended school in Alabama until she dropped out at 14. Lowe's interest in fashion, sewing, and designing came from her mother Janey and grandmother Georgia, who were sewists. They ran a dressmaking business that was often frequented by the first families of Montgomery and other members of high society. Lowe's mother died when Lowe was 16 years old. At this time, Lowe took over the family business.

From the 1920s to the 1960s, Lowe's unique designs were worn by high society women. Lowe ultimately designed one of the most famous wedding dresses in history: the ivory silk taffeta bridal gown worn by Jacqueline Bouvier when she married John F. Kennedy in 1953. Unfortunately, Lowe never received the deserved credit from neither the press nor the First Lady herself because of her race. In 1968, however, Lowe opened her store, Ann Lowe Originals, on Madison Avenue.

Today, Lowe's dresses are kept in the Met's Costume Institute and at the Fashion Institute of Technology. The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture has her gowns on display. In 2016, her work was included in the FIT's exhibition about the contributions of Black Americans on the history of fashion design. In recent years, two children's books about her life have been published.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1905, Zelda Wynn Valdes lived during racial segregation as part of daily life. She began as a storeroom worker in a boutique, eventually climbing her way up to seamstress. Valdes made clothes for Sarah Vaughn, Dorothy Dandridge, Ella Fitzgerald, and Maria Cole, Nat King Cole's wife at the apex of her career. She designed Cole's famous off-the-shoulder wedding dress in 1948, the same year she opened her boutique on Broadway. But what you probably didn't know was that Zelda Wynn Valdes, a black woman, is the creator of the iconic Playboy bunny costume and that the late Hugh Hefner personally commissioned her to do it. She is known for creating masterpieces to highlight the coveted hour-glass figure in the 1940s and 1950s.