NEW YORK – Kerby Jean-Raymond knows how to make a statement. It was the young New York designer who caught the attention of the fashion industry when his entire last season was dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement.
But after so much attention was given to the designer, he found himself in a quandary. Was he pigeonholed into becoming the industry black designer who would be defined by his political stances?
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That led to depression a couple of weeks later.
“It was freeing to be able to create that collection and I have no regrets, but I went through the emotions,” he said to Mashable backstage at his show, Saturday.
“I just felt like you kind of accidentally typecast yourself by speaking out. Was I going to be defined as a black person first, designer second?"
Was I going to be defined as a black person first, designer second?
Those real emotions led Jean-Raymond to create his second collection, entitled, “Double Bind,” which tackled mental health and depression head-on. The presentation was styled by friend, Erykah Badu, who he said was “very hands-on.”
“She was up until 2 in the morning putting buttons on all the hats, sourcing everything, all the signs,” he said. “It wasn’t just her putting her name on this project, she was tying models’ shoes as they came out of the runway.”
Badu was touched by the entire presentation and said she signed up for the project only because she believes in Jean-Raymond’s vision – and of course, she liked the clothes.
“This was important to me as the whole world is depressed,” she said. “We don’t discuss mental illnesses enough but we do numb it. The theme, Double Bind means two conflicting ideas, similar to bi-polar or depression.”
The subject, he said, wasn’t sexy in fashion, just like Black Lives Matter last season.
“It could have ended his career, it was that risky,” Badu said.
As the models took center stage before the show, two dozen singers made their way into a choral arrangement. They sported white shirt dresses from the brand, holding their choir books. As a mini orchestra played along, the choir made quite an impression, singing Fetty Wap’s RGF Island with Future’s Trap N*ggas.
At first, it was a curious arrangement, but it had a powerful meaning.
“On the surface trap music is very aggressive,” the designer said. “Both of the songs reflect a dark side of black culture and life. That’s what most people see. We flipped it into a beautiful opera to show that there’s a multifaceted side of us. We are people, too.”
The collection concluded with a model holding up a sign that read: “My demons won today Im sorry.”
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It was a Facebook post 23-year old MarShawn McCarrel wrote before shooting himself in front of the statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.
“In our society within our culture, it’s very macho,” he said of his heritage. “You don’t speak about depression. Your father tells you to walk that shit off. I want to show that we need to speak out about it until it’s too late."
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Topics Mental Health
