Kerby Jean-Raymond Of Pyer Moss Becomes First Black American Designer To Present At Paris Couture Week

Jean-Raymond, founder of the luxury brand Pyer Moss, was invited by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Collections to the FW21 Haute Couture calendar, InsideHook reported. According to the official announcement, made on Thursday by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, the event is scheduled to take place in early July.

Haute Couture Week will take place physically from Monday July 5th to Thursday July 8th 2021. More information : https://t.co/EZE80QRFhk#hautecouture
#hautecoutureweek
#couture

— Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (@FHCM) May 11, 2021

Can we say Black ???????? Excellence ????????

Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss is making history as the first Black American designer to present at Paris Haute Couture Week #BlackExcellence ????

Tag someone who’s in need of some inspiration ???????? pic.twitter.com/8dOoncbwd1

— Blaque Magazine (@Blaquemagazine) May 13, 2021

As the first Black American designer in the fashion week’s 49-year old history, Jean-Raymond is paving a glimmering path for a list of other highly successful Black fashion experts. Black designers like Virgil Abloh of Off-White and Louis Vuitton, LaQuan Smith and Jerry Lorenzo of Fear of God, accompany Jean-Raymond in being major movers and shakers in what's otherwise a white-dominated industry.

But pushing the status quo isn't anything new for the designer. In 2019, Jean-Raymond was hired as creative director of a new Reebok collection.

Reebok by Pyer Moss — Collection 3 pic.twitter.com/sPr4vkJUBN

— Pyer Moss (@pyermoss) December 24, 2020

Jean-Raymond has described Pyer Moss as “a timely social experiment.”

According to the site, the label was created to challenge social norms and create a space for conversation around social justice. That has definitely always been true. In 2015, two years after the brand’s genesis, Jean-Raymond opened his New York show using a short documentary to highlight police brutality, InsideHook reported. That strategy got the buzz out, giving viewers an inside look into the thinking behind the brand’s primary purpose.

“Think Bigger” — with A Motivational Poem by Evan Williams. pic.twitter.com/p206ZBwQh2

— Pyer Moss (@pyermoss) March 31, 2021

Since those early beginnings, Jean-Raymond has remained true to his focus on Black people and the Black experience. The same was seen in his 2020 show, American, Also.

"We've been asked to repatroitize African Americans in a time that feels very xenophobic, elitist, and exclusionary. So we've been highlighting the stories of African American contributions to the American popular space," Jean-Raymond told Tracee Ellis Ross of the show’s conception in 2019, People reported.  

The New-York based fashion label eventually attracted the eyes of many Black celebrities early on, including Zendaya, Issa Rae and Vice President Kamala Harris, according to Essence. 

Only one month prior to Jean-Raymond’s addition to Haute Couture Week, the creative director announced he will be presenting his Spring-Summer collection at an in-person New York Fashion Week in September. According to People, that show will end Jean-Raymond’s two-year hiatus from the fashion runway.