Montreal-area CÉGEP students celebrate Black excellence in fashion

To recognize Black History Month, CÉGEP students at Vanier College in Saint-Laurent curated a fashion show Friday to celebrate Black excellence in fashion. 

“It was planned to showcase all the cultures, Black cultures, so from African cultural wear to Maasai, Kenyan, the Native Natives, then the formal wear as well as the Y2K,” said Naomi Folefac, one of the Vanier College students who organized the fashion show.

“African culture is beautiful. It’s there. It’s for everybody. It’s not just for us Africans.”    

“It gives people a taste of all the cultural implications that fashion has, different fashion trends that we see nowadays. And also fashion culture, the way we dress, most of the things that we wear actually have a story behind it. So this fashion show is also to give a taste of some of those stories,” said Pearl Oduro, a Vanier College student also involved in organizing the show. 

The event highlighted Black Fashion over time, featuring formal to streetwear. It spotlighted contemporary fashion that included casual clothing and formal attire as well as traditional clothing representing Caribbean and African cultures. 

“This is important because on TV we’re showcased that Blacks are usually poor. Like if you think about it, when you say Africa, it’s like they’ll say, oh, you know, this person needs water, this person needs water,” explained Folefac. 

“Why this was important for us is to show that we’re actually rich in culture.” 

Many of the traditional outfits and modern apparel were provided by companies as well as by some of the models. 

The fashion show included three performances, more than 20 models as well as MCs explaining the stories and history behind each of the different fashion styles.

“This show is just to give a taste because we don’t have enough time to showcase all the cultures that we want to showcase, we’re giving some insight and hopefully we can do more in the next years,” concluded Oduro.