Since Founder Antoine Grégory launched Black Fashion Fair in 2020, the conceptual retail, educational, and cultural experience has quickly become a repository for Black fashion, style, and culture. Highlighting Black designers, tastemakers, and luminaries, Grégory has his eyes set on a goal, and the limit is infinite. He’s already created many monumental moments in less than two years, including an exclusive collection with CFDA American Emerging Designer of the Year Award-winner Theophilio and an educational fashion program with FIT, but Grégory has a lot more up his sleeve.
This week Black Fashion Fair announced the debut of Volume 0, a limited-edition publication exploring Black creatives in fashion with the support of Warby Parker. “It’s been an honor to partner with Black Fashion Fair on their first magazine,” says Warby Parker co-founder and co-CEO Neil Blumenthal in a statement shared with GRAZIA USA. “Every page is an inspiring testament to their commitment to community and creativity, a belief that Warby Parker shares.”
The inaugural issue themed “SEEN” consists of three covers featuring Maria Borges photographed by AB + DM, Joan Smalls shot by Quil Lemons, Aleya Ali shot by AB + DM, and a digital cover featuring Sabrina Nugent shot by Amber Pinkerton. Inside the nearly 200-page magazine, Volume 0 explores Black representation in fashion and what it means to be seen in a series of thought-provoking visuals from Kerby Jean-Raymond’s historic Couture 001 collection, Theophilio, Sergio Hudson, and House of Aama, to name a few.
Essays and dialogue from fashion greats Brandon Blackwood, Grace Wales Bonner, Rikki Byrd, Bethann Hardison, Aria Hughes, Byron Lars, Mikelle Street, Brooklyn White, and more further explore the conversation of being Black in fashion. “These pages are about collaboration and the power of community,” says Gregory. “As we continue to create references for the future, Black Fashion Fair becomes our own institution of exhibition, discovery, and research.”
The issue is now available for purchase through blackfashionfair.org and at Mulberry Iconic Magazine during New York Fashion Week (February 11-17).
