Self-described mother, touring artist, producer, DJ, director, activist, holistic healer, doula, veggie, observer and hustler, Erykah Badu contributes to Pyer Moss Fall 2016 New York Fashion Week show.
The singer-songwriter is no stranger to the fashion limelight. Indeed, Badu opened last season’s New York Fashion Week with an hour-long set and also starred as the face of the SS14 Givenchy, bringing to the brand her individual aesthetic and direct gaze. This season, her role is neither as model nor musician. Badu has paired up with Kerby Jean-Raymond to contribute to the AW16 collection of his label Pyer Moss.
The February 13th show follows a previous season of politically-loaded fashion shows, and the pairing alone suggests that this collection release will not break from the trend. Both Badu and Jean-Raymond have used their platforms to bring Black Lives Matter activism into their previous work.
Last September, Kerby Jean-Raymond’s Spring collection incorporated ‘blood’ splattered shoes, and the infamous last words of Eric Garner, “I can’t breathe.” A powerful statement. According to Dazed, this season’s intention is to to follow along the same activist vein, with the brand statement reading:
“A certain functional schizophrenia has to exist to cope with the dissonance of having a black man in the White House while a black body lies for four hours in the streets of Ferguson.”
Badu, whose latest film The Land was debuted at Sundance in late January, will bring her own activist perspective to the season release. In an interview with Noisey she described the Black Lives Matter movement as “necessary” in America’s current climate.
“People are organizing and fusing together to make change, and it’s inspiring.”
On the two talented personalities meeting together to collaborate, Badu had only praises to sing, “(Kerby and I) were a match made in fashion heaven… Though risky at times, he stands in his truth. And the strength of that truth lies in the belief of his vision. I’m inspired by the bold statements he makes in this, sometimes, fickle industry.”
The show will take place on February 13 and promises to be a powerful combination of politics, music and fashion.