September 9, 2025
Black Fashion Fair Launches Inaugural Symposium Ahead Of NY Fashion Week
Black Fashion Fair introduced a new symposium that brings Black creatives to the forefront.
Black Fashion Fair is ensuring Black fashion and beauty creatives receive the recognition they deserve with a newly launched symposium that spotlights and celebrates their contributions.
Held on Sept. 6, right ahead of the start of New York Fashion Week, Black Fashion Fair’s one-day symposium brought together designers, photographers, beauty leaders, and more for panel discussions aimed at uniting, supporting, and amplifying their work in an industry where they’ve long been overlooked.
“Black Fashion Fair exists because Black fashion has always deserved more: more visibility, more access, more investment, more ownership,” Black Fashion Fair Founder Antoine Gregory said, as captured by Essence. “We are not just observers of Black fashion. We are building a foundation that will sustain generations to come. Today is an extension of that work.”
The night repeatedly highlighted the power of community, as creatives shared how collaboration and support from fellow Black fashion professionals have fueled their success.
“Collaboration is something that’s important to us, because we’re two people working together as one unit,” said photographer Donté Maurice. “We’re lucky and blessed to do our own post-production. One key thing we do is involve and invite the makeup artist into that process because they see things that we don’t see.”
Maurice collaborates with fellow photographer Ahmad Barber as the duo AB+DM. The Atlanta natives have shot iconic images of Zendaya and Viola Davis for InStyle, Cardi B for Billboard, Naomi Osaka for Vogue Hong Kong, and Lady Gaga’s House of Gucci cover for The Hollywood Reporter.
It was while working with Zendaya and stylist Law Roach that AB + DM say they discovered the importance of advocating for other Black creatives.
“One of the things that Zendaya and Law Roach taught us was how to pay it forward, and they showed us how to advocate properly,” Maurice said.
Amid today’s uncertain economy, the symposium also tackled the impact of Trump-era tariffs on the fashion and beauty industries. During a panel with beauty influencers, Danessa Myricks spoke openly about how the tariffs cost her millions as she worked to keep her namesake beauty brand afloat.
“There are so many nuances. You could be doing extremely well and be out of business in the next week,” Myricks said. “This year is a perfect example. [Early on], with everything that happened with tariffs, overnight we had to find $10 million to survive.”
Another panel brought together fashion heavyweights to discuss the cultural power of style. Moderator Kia D. Goosby of Vanity Fair asked Edvin Thompson of Theophilio, Jacques Agbobly of knitwear label Agbobly, and Tia Adeola, creative director of her self-named line, to share their thoughts on how fashion intersects with politics and activism, sparking some truly insightful moments.
“We’re actually activists even when there’s not necessarily a call to action for us. Because we wake up Black every day,” Thompson said.
“As Black designers, there’s a danger of being pigeonholed and looked on to speak for the culture,” Agbobly added. “For me, I exist to tell my own story, and if that happens to emit any type of politics or anything that’s happening in the world, it’s just a sort of byproduct.”
Other Black fashion leaders featured at the symposium included luxury accessories designer Brandon Blackwood, Tomi Talabi, founder of the Black Beauty Club, Sofia Maame Thompson, PR director of Buttah Skin, and makeup artist Keita Moore, among others. While Gregory has not yet confirmed whether the event will become an annual New York Fashion Week kickoff, the inaugural symposium certainly made a powerful statement.
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