Press Pen: Arise Magazine African Icons Show Review

Dear Pennies & Pens,

It’s Pen here to continue reporting on New York Fashion Week S/S 2013. I’m pleased to announce that this year Arise Magazine hosted another show at Lincoln Center during New York Fashion Week. In fact, Arise Magazine has hosted 19 successful fashion shows internationally. For those that don’t know, Arise Magazine is a world class publication that is distributed in over 27 countries. Arise Magazine focuses on covering African fashion, style, beauty, and music but it appeals to an international audience that is both African and non-African.

I have been reading Arise for years and I’ll admit to having used editorials from its pages to decorate the walls of my apartment. Arise is the first publication that I’ve seen that showcases people of color in high fashion editorials and the written content is always superb. In essence, please check out their website ASAP because I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Moving right along, for this New York Fashion Week Arise Magazine presented a show entitled “African Icons”. The show included five emerging African designers who were chosen to show in New York after presenting their collections at Arise Magazine Fashion Week which was held in March of 2012 in Lagos, Nigeria. Arise Magazine Fashion Week was a five day event in which 77 designers presented their collection and five designers won the chance to represent the Arise brand in New York. The designers who presented at New York Fashion Week are Ozwald Boateng, Gavin Rajah, Tiffany Amber, Tsemaye Binitie, and Maki Oh.

Each of these designers collections was interesting, chic, stylish, and fabulous. The stand out designers are Tsemaye Binitie who showed a collection of simple yet chic ready to wear; Tiffany Amber who showed beautiful bold prints including yellow pieces that were printed with the bodies of African women; and Ozwald Boateng who presented menswear that featured razor sharp tailoring, classic silhouettes, and bold African prints that was used sparingly.

Overall, it was definitely an excellent show. I’m so excited to see such diversity in the tents at Lincoln Center because it means that the industry is moving forward and finally accepting designers that come from different cultures and backgrounds. In essence, fashion can become more unique and diverse if clothing and accessories are designed by a diverse group.

And there it is. de la Pen…All Pen Everything.