Pyer Moss NYFW SS2016 Runway Presentation was a platform form for more than Fashion. Haitian Born Pyer Moss Founder and head designer Kerby–Jean Raymond had a statement to make. The show started with a 10-minute video chronicling the many victims of police violence across the country courtesy of the “Pyer Moss News Network”. The short film featured interviews with artist, journalists, celebrities and family members of victims of police violence, including Usher Raymond, Robert Verdi, Joel Towers, the dean of the Parsons School, Oscar Grant’s mother Wanda Johnson, Eric Garner’s daughter Emerald Garner, Sean Bell’s wife Nicole Bell. The video clips seen repeatedly in the last year took on fresh meaning with the new visceral editing and personal commentary.
Kerby–Jean Raymond almost didn’t show the Pyer Moss SS2016 line at all. The designer stated he wanted the film to speak for itself and considered ending the show after the brief screening. The show itself almost did not happen after the designer’s first venue choice canceled his contract once the content of the show was reported in the Washington Post. Kerby-Jean Raymond the designer of iconic protest T-shirt “They Have Names” could not be stopped. This show was dedicated to all the victim’s past and present. Specifically, the collection was titled “Ota, meet Saartjie” after Ota Benga, a Congolese man put on an exhibit at the Bronx Zoo in 1906, and Saartjie Baartman, a South African woman exhibited in Europe in the early 1800s 19th-century Europe under name Hottentot Venus. Saartjie Baartman was ogled for her large posterior, a body shape coveted by the Instagram celebrities of today.
This show marked the first time the Pyer Moss line ventured into styling for women. Also, there to add vibrancy to Jean-Raymond’s looks was artist Gregory Siff who spray-painted phrases on jackets and pants as the models walked the runway in graffitied work boots emblazoned with victims names and red paint splashes. Pyer Moss SS16 pallet had a distinct military edge-predominantly dress white, olive green, canvas, and khaki with red bands featured throughout. “The collection is still based on captivity, still a lot of straps and buckles and a restraint element to it,” remarked the designer. Pyer Moss SS16 was a fusion of athleisure and urban streetwear with an avant-garde Asian streak. My particular favorite pieces were the outerwear. The paint splashed kimono coat and the motorcycle jacket are essentials to the style-conscious revolutionary’s wardrobe.