As Fashion Week sweeps Manhattan, five Brooklyn designers will command the spotlight closer to home at The People’s Runway on Sunday, Sept. 14.
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Arts Ambassador Colm Dillane on Wednesday said they will host a fashion show that will feature work from five emerging Brooklyn designers: Ahmrii Johnson, Daveed Baptiste, Kent Anthony, Rojin Jung and Shriya Myneni.
“The People’s Runway is about celebrating the artistry and identity that is embedded in every corner of our borough,” Reynoso said in a statement. “Across Brooklyn, emerging fashion designers are designing as a way of storytelling, creating garments that encapsulate the experiences of their families and their neighborhoods."
The show will take place outside at Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza at 8:00pm.
“As someone who has created his brand from Brooklyn, received mentorship from other organizations, and worked with many different brands along the way, I think I have a great perspective on what can really help a young creative in NYC," Dillance, the founder of KidSuper Studios, said. "I believe this runway experience is more powerful than the participants even realize. I am looking forward to seeing what they make and what comes from this!”
The designers include:
Ahmrii Johnson, a Bahamian-American fashion designer and multidisciplinary artist whose work fuses Caribbean craft, botanical science and indigenous wisdom into ethereal, narrative-driven designs. Drawing from her heritage, lived experiences and biblical text, Johnson transforms textiles and garments into stories that bridge art, fashion and spiritual reflection.
Daveed Baptiste is an interdisciplinary designer and artist whose work incorporates fashion design, textile design and photography. He draws inspiration from his migration from Port au-Prince, Haiti to Miami, Fla. Through his design, he explores themes of migration and cultural preservation within the Haitian community and the larger Caribbean diaspora, reclaiming African diasporic futures and narratives.
Kent Anthony is an African American designer whose background in fine art and industrial design informs his approach to fashion as a medium for storytelling. Growing up, he rarely saw the African American narrative communicated through a luxury lens – most portrayals leaned toward street culture, which did not reflect his own experience. Anthony designs to fill that gap, offering new perspectives that elevate Black creativity within a luxury, intellectual framework.
Rojin Jung challenges the modern ideals of comfort as he embraces imperfection and failure as a means to constantly evolve. Through his work, he encourages the audience to break out of patterns of living that trap them both physically and mentally. His designs are rooted in a journey of self-discovery, resilience and generational healing as a child of immigrants.
Raised in India, having lived in Indonesia and Canada, and now living in Brooklyn, Shriya Myneni's diverse upbringing has shaped a unique perspective that comes through in her work. She is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist who enjoys experimenting across mediums, allowing her to explore ideas in layered and meaningful ways. Her silhouettes often emerge from deconstructed shapes and reconstructed forms such as garments that morph, unravel and rebuild to reflect how we carry ourselves and our pasts.
The event is open to the public, first-come first-served, and standing room only. ADA accommodations will be available. To sign up for updates on the event, RSVP here.
