In the racial reckoning of 2020, amidst the knee-jerk efforts to recognize Black designers, creatives, owners and executives in fashion — and recognize fashion’s inherent shortcomings in the matter — Black Owned Everything became an authority in identifying, cataloguing and celebrating Black creativity not just in fashion but also in lifestyle, home and decor and a number of adjacent categories.
Now, the Instagram account, founded by Zerina Akers, is a full-fledged e-commerce destination, with the aim of bringing actual retail to the social media initiative, which has nearly 14,000 registered business owners and 216,000 followers and growing alongside a content hub that will allow featured designers and creatives to connect and work together.
To launch the site, the celebrity stylist tapped 32 fashion, design and beauty brands, including Fe Noel, Aliette, Glemaud and Sergio Hudson (the last of which has seen a meteoric rise since both Kamala Harris and Michelle Obama wore his clothes to the Presidential Inauguration festivities in January).
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There is also a dedicated footwear section on the site, with designers like Tori Soudan, Sunni Studio, Salone Monet and Keeyahri, whose designer Keya Martin recently collaborated with Akers on a pair of thigh-high boots with her signature sculptural heel.
Akers created the Instagram account around the same time of the debut of Beyoncé’s “Black Is King” visual album, for which she served as costume designer, creating elaborate and wildly fantastical looks for the star. She has been the longtime stylist to both Beyoncé and Beyoncé protégés Chloe x Halle.
To buy: Salone Monet Anita Bank silk heel, $295.
To buy: Keeyahri Zerina leather boot, $1,199.
To buy: Sunni Studio Reese square toe boot, $510.
