A Look Back: Khiry’s NYFW SS22 Was The Beginning For Black Reclamation In Fashion And Culture
Jameel Mohammed at the 2021 MET Gala, wearing a Khiry top from the NYFW SS22 runway show. MIKE COPPOLA - GETTY
Jameel Mohammed, founder and creative director of Khiry. MIKE COPPOLA - GETTY
By Cassell Ferere originally published on Forbes.com
“A Reminder,” a film by the afro-futurist fashion brand Khiry, sets the record for body politics relating to the Black community and cultural diaspora. Visual queues of Civil Rights footage, familiar pop icons of today, and various images of Black people, famous or not, throughout history, are juxtaposed in a tension between the popular and the oppressed. A deep-rooted role in this film is in dispelling any doubts of fashion and its association to oppressive practices of policing and pillaging Black people, culture, and trends.
Jameel Mohammed is the founder and creative director behind Khiry and is pushing forth a narrative of the afro-fashion diaspora. A leader in the movement to reclaim Black bodies in the public eye, especially in fashion, Mohammed put forth a New York Fashion Week Spring Summer 2022 show that reflected grace and enlightenment through Khiry’s third collection.
Model Veronika Collins in NYFW SS22 Khiry runway show.
COURTESY OF KHIRY
The collection entitled “Fights, Flights, and Fantasies (go but so far),” is an exploration of escapism, a liberation of Black people throughout popular culture as well as politics. The fight is something Mohammed deals with as a multidisciplinary artist, jewelry maker and a newly-minted fashion designer, with the debut of one-of-one garments and other fine wearable objects by Khiry.
Beyond the fine and demi-fine jewelry pieces we’ve seen from the Khiry brand, wearables fill in a void that Mohammed was in search of filling. Undertaking a year-long process in his escapist state birthed unique garments that spoke to the historical existence of the Black legacy. Mohammed adorned his models in garments like the Macrame Flogger top, Highflier dress, Highflier tank top, and America in Tatters skirt, all created in Khiry’s Brooklyn studio using techniques from Mohammed’s jewelry craftsmanship.
Hand-sewn fringe, cannabis bags and tassels accentuated the models who would move gracefully - dancing - in sync on the runway dressing in fine jewelry pieces from Khiry placed on installations throughout. An installation titled “Don’t Mean It, Don’t Cost” was an inspired piece from old drawings that highlighted the tender moments of the connectedness of people and dealing with trauma. The Iklwa shaped top was also reflective of a jewelry piece inspired by the legend of Shaka Zulu, founder of the Zulu Empire in Southern Africa who defended against European colonialism.
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