In the eight years since Pyer Moss was founded, the brand has become known for hosting powerful shows and design collections that not only reflect Kerby's technical ability as a designer, but also engage with racial themes and celebrate the beauty of black culture in a courageous and subtle way. Just over a year after taking home the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award in 2018, Pyer Moss presented the final installment of "American, Also," a triptych series exploring the erasure of African-American narratives in pop culture. For Spring/Summer '20, Pyer Moss took over the King Theatre in Kerby's hometown of Flatbush, Brooklyn, to celebrate Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the black lesbian who invented rock 'n' roll.
So it made sense that when the weather cleared and Kerby was finally able to hold his statement couture show, it was a total celebration of black innovation. The show, entitled "WAT U IZ," was staged at the Levallo Villa, the Hudson River estate of Ms. C.J. Walker, America's first female billionaire and beauty mogul, whose home was the meeting place for artists such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and W.E.B. Du Bois. After an impassioned speech by former Black Panther Party chairman Elaine Brown, models walked the runway in revealing embellishments - subtle accessories, but more often a massive wearable tribute - to everyday objects created by black inventors (think: peanut butter, gas masks, three-light traffic lights).
"We are an invention within an invention," reads the program description." In the creation of race, we created the black race. We created culture when we were thrown out of our homes and placed in a foreign land. And while they tried to strip us of our humanity, we created the freedom that binds each other so tightly that it still shapes the world today.
Of course, beyond the striking, larger-than-life accessories, what you see is an incredibly compelling proposal for Pyramus couture. Kirby's famous passion for primary colors and graphic prints is tempered by candy-like pastels and airy formal fabrics. The main line here is a confident gesture, evident in things like corseted silk knits, hand-beaded dresses, pale blue taffeta cut-out gowns and floor-length auburn quilted robes worn under domed shawls composed of curling irons.
"The stories the world tells us about us are about pain. The stories we tell each other about our own lives are about how Grandma loved us with Bible verses and lemonade, how lineage never defined who our aunts and uncles were, and how the house was always big enough to hold everyone we loved." We carry the story of glory in our bodies. Black imagination is the greatest technology in this world."
For all its celebration and exquisite sensibilities, this is almost a collection that evades more sober reflection. The last model walked down the runway wearing a mini fridge with a front that read "But who invented black trauma?" , with a pearl-colored ruffled skirt written on top. And rapper 22GZ closed the show with his song "King of New York". Those words echoed as Kirby Jean Raymond and his crew came out for a celebratory lap around the stage, which had to be rebuilt in less than 48 hours due to the storm. Rain delays aside, one thing was clear to the ecstatic crowd - the King of New York was back.
