• Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
      • Hair News
      • Natural
      • Relaxed
      • Transitioning
      • Weave
      • 4C
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · Fashion Week

How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week

The magic of being young, gifted and Black.
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
By Whitney Gaspard · Updated October 26, 2020

Diversity in fashion has long been an issue. Until more recently (with the exception of a few) Black models, women of color and curvy women were largely invisible in the fashion world.

They were a rarity on the runway and in fashion spreads, so the alarm was sounded on a number of fashion brands that seemed to hide or all together ignore Black and curvy women.

The stories of underrepresented Black models aren’t the only unsung stories in fashion. There are also Black designers, creatives, stylists, casting agencies, production staff and public relations people who all have a hand in making a fashion show successful —but there are few Black and brown faces in these positions.

Now we’re taking things into our own hands.

During New York Fashion Week four creative businesses, all owned by young black entrepreneurs, partnered together to host a fashion presentation for a Nigerian womenswear brand MAKI OH.

Designer of MAKI OH, Amaka Osakwe is one of the biggest success stories to come out of Nigeria’s burgeoning fashion scene. She sells her collection through multi-brand retailer OXOSI founded by Akin Adebowale and Kolade Adeyemo. The three of them joined forces with Simone Small (Konsèy Creative) and Dionne Cochrane (Cochrane Casting) to host the lively presentation that attracted more than one hundred Black artists, creatives and editors.

The collaboration between the foursome was quite easy. They united over a concern that Black models weren’t given the same opportunities as other models. And although the production was put on by an all-Black cast, their perspectives were far from monolithic. All-together, their backgrounds span six different countries and a variety of professional backgrounds.

The presentation was straight out of a fashion dream.

The beating drums of The OXOSI Fuji Ambassadors (a traditional African band) playing in the back of the room greeted guests all the way at the front door. Twenty-three Black women of all shades modeled the vivacious collection standing on a golden stage that seemed to make their melanin pop.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest in hair, beauty, style and celebrity news.

For Cochrane, who casted all the models for the show, the experience blew her away. She was overcome with emotion recounting a story about a Black model turned away from a casting because she wasn’t the right “fit”. “I ran after her,” she told ESSENCE, “and told her to keep in touch.” That night, the model stood in formation along with a dozen other Black models who were just the right fit for the MAKI OH show.

My dream “is to one day cast a show representative of all shades and shapes, the whole world in one show,” Cochrane says.  

For these Black entrepreneurs, Black culture, style and aesthetic is much more than a cool trend. But rather it is an experience that can only be imagined and executed by its forebears. They demonstrate that Black designers, creatives and many others in the fashion world have a perspective that is just beginning to be realized.

Check out the best looks from the MAKI OH Collection below.

01
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
02
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
03
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
04
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
05
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
06
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
07
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
08
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
09
Untitled Image
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
10
Untitled Image
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
11
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
12
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
13
Maki Oh Fall 2017
How Young Black Entrepreneurs Made A Bold Splash at New York Fashion Week
Amandla Baraka
TOPICS:  Black Fashion Designer
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now