From Sidewalk Streets to Stardom
Images Sources: Troi Williams and Savannah Maher
Footaction hosted a competition to shine a light on innovative young African American women from historically black universities to showcase their stylistic ideas for their 2020 NYFW presentation. Over 150 applicants competed to combine footwear with a street edge, five women won and presented their unique looks.
My favorite was Chakierrah Stinson from Tuskegee University. Her fleece was made from recycled plastic water bottles and inspired by sustainability. Stinson told Footaction “ I’m a self-taught designer who focuses on reworking unconventional objects into apparel.”
These competitors kept their artistic flare but catered to the trends of the consumer’s desires. The environment of the Footaction No 1-way program was empowering and friendly.
As a young college woman herself, I felt nothing but comfort in the Footaction environment being surrounded by audience members that were supporting hard-working females although I entered the presentation completely alone and in a new big city.
Anything but the Kitten Heel
Image Sources: IMAXTREE and Getty Images
Traditionally heels come with the expectation of being dainty and sexy. The stereotype that a woman needs these characteristics while walking above her norm was washed away this past NYFW.
Versace innovated the platform heel with a street twist. The colors and texture of these heels are reflective of your classic sneaker. Interestingly, Versace kept the expectation of the quaint strap to pull the heel together. This look is practical with the built yet daring with the colors.
Black and yellow are often paired together as a symbol of warning, Fendi knew how to turn heads with this funky heel. The spiral texture as the backbone of the heel screams “stability” while the rippled yellow “Fendi” backside of the shoe states “flexibility”. This contrasting heel speaks as loud as it stomps.
The Tamed Jungle
Image Sources: Shuttershock
Models stepped out of the comfort zone of their own species and took on the role of different animals this Fall/Winter 2020 NYFW. Finally, designers are realizing there are more exciting animal prints than cheetah and snake.
Dorothy warned us about lions, tigers, and bears… but she forgot to mention zebra! Zebra print can be seen as just as much of a neutral as cheetah print if paired with simple black shoes and accessories. To keep up with the fast-moving print, add pops of any color to fulfill the wild fun fantasy.
Classy Cutouts
Image Sources: Getty Images
Designers such as Dion Lee and Khaite stormed the runway with cutouts in all forms of clothing and shapes. Mainly the cutouts were to accentuate the woman figure at the hips and upper chest.
Brandon Maxwell designed cutouts in a simple yet effective way. Fiery red was a trend the 2020 NYFW runway shows witnessed a lot of, but Maxwell used minimalistic cut-outs to add even more heat to the trend.
The unsymmetrical cutouts on the hip force attention to the upper cutouts on the chest and the color itself. This design is sexy but sophisticated with only a little bit of bare waist showing.
Euphoric Funk 