The future of fashion is bright: shining a spotlight on Black fashion creators
Gushers’ Black Voices Create program amplifies three up-and-coming fashion designers.
Internet slang, dance trends, popular music, and fashion aesthetics – many of these originated from Black creators yet their contributions have often remained obscured and undervalued.
Launched in 2020, Gushers’ Black Voices Create program is designed to spotlight, celebrate and uplift talented Black creators with the goal to close the value gap in the space by providing access, exposure and financial compensation.
This year, Gushers is teaming up with premier streetwear publication HYPEBEAST to spotlight up-and-coming Gen Z fashion designers whose art is breaking conventions while uniquely expressing their individual experiences.
Meet the designers we’re gushing about
Three rising designers, Sainabou Lowe, Dale Horton and Camryn McClain, the respective creators behind fashion brands SAIbysai, Expired Citizens and RENÉE, are proudly featured in this year’s Black Voices Create program as Gushers spotlights each designer’s brand story and their unique approach to deconstructed and DIY fashion.
For this year’s program, each designer has meticulously crafted two distinctive apparel pieces that resonate with their own individually unique brand identity to be part of the first-ever Black Voices Create fashion capsule.
These garments were unveiled earlier this year within a bespoke lookbook, a collaborative masterpiece elevating not only the designers but uniting BIPOC creators including fashion model Victor Kunda, photographer Nayquan Shuler, and fashion stylist Justin Boone.
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Sainabou Lowe - SAIbysai
Sainabou Lowe is known for her “SAI” face, an original abstract work that adorns her brand’s various leather moto jackets, denim jeans, plaid miniskirts, blazers, cotton button-downs and vests. SAIbysai embodies Gen Z’s fixation with DIY design and the resurgence of at-home tailoring and upcycling.
For Gushers, the designer remixed another gem from her collection, a pair of relaxed parachute pants with oversized cargo pockets at the front in a fern green colorway.
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The style showcases baby pink “SAI” motifs painted down the front panels. Lowe then incorporates this pink-and-green palette on her second piece, a knitted pullover with ‘70s-style bell sleeves and multicolored fringe draping at the fitted hem.
“I love the Black Voices Create initiative because it’s for people like me,” says Lowe. “It’s so important to see myself out there so to platform us and be a part of it is very important.”
Dale Horton – Expired Citizens
Dale Horton’s Expired Citizens has been gaining popularity for its unconventional use of patchwork and pattern-clashing collage-style paneling made from upcycled deadstock textiles, tablecloths and recycled materials. The designer presents upcycled denim jeans and a camo messenger bag for the Black Voices Create fashion capsule.
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Experience the designs yourself
During New York Fashion Week and throughout September, Snapchat QR codes let consumers across New York City scan into a digitalized portal to explore the designs themselves while streetside takeovers feature the designers’ creations.
Consumers across the country will be invited to engage with the designs through a virtual augmented reality try-on via Snapchat and a select few won pieces from the designers’ collections in a social giveaway from HYPEBEAST.
