A Celebration of Curls, Coils and Waves Hit New York Fashion Week
More than 500 Influencers, media and VIPs packed City Winery to celebrate textured hair at TextureMedia’s™ Texture On The Runway – an innovative runway show that put curls, coils and waves front and center. Held during New York’s Fall 2016 Fashion Week at City Winery, the exclusive, invite-only, high-energy event put hair center stage. Official event hashtag, #textureontherunway, became a trending topic across social platforms, generating over 5.5 million social media impressions and garnering over 30,000 likeson Instagram. Texture On The Runway was truly a reunion of epic proportions among the who’s who of the naturally curly world.
Hosted by Michelle Breyer, co-founder of NaturallyCurly.com and Patrice Yursik of Afrobella.com, five top texture brands, includingAu Naturale by Dark and Lovely, Cantu, Creme of Nature, Design Essentials and Garnier, headlined the runway, featuring their own unique textured hair inspiration and debuting looks that truly celebrated texture. Each brand brought its original interpretation of texture to the runway through models and provided a way to show, rather than tell, the consumer what makes each brand’s products unique.
"We wanted to create an event that created an exciting counterpoint to what was happening during Fashion Week, where straight hair traditionally dominates the runways,” explains Breyer. “At our show, sexy waves, wild ringlets and luscious 'fros were everywhere! We were thrilled to bring this event to Fashion Week again, providing top textured brands and their stylists with the opportunity to let the hair dictate the fashion, rather than the other way around.“
For 18 years, since the inception of NaturallyCurly.com, TextureMedia has been the pioneer in empowering, educating and inspiring its community of consumers, influencers, and beauty enthusiasts alike. As the very first digital platform catering to all things hair,TextureMedia continues to lead this important conversation through original content and branded entertainment with a focus on connecting the consumer voice with brands and retailers in this ever-expanding beauty category. At TextureMedia, texture truly transcends ethnicity.
THE RUNWAY:
Through 15-minute presentations, hair sponsors showcased their interpretation of modern, textured hair by the models that proudly walked the runway. Each sponsor’s motivation and interpretation brought to the show it’s own original perspective:
Au Naturale by Dark and Lovely
Inspiration: Hair has always been the ultimate runway accessory and as the natural hair movement continues to thrive, naturalistas are at the forefront of trends and fashion. Texture on the Runway presented a great opportunity to highlight how textured hair, once a movement, is now the norm.
Interpretation: Au Naturale by Dark and Lovely kicked off the show and pulled out all the stops with a group of dancers whose African-inspired dance moves, tribal makeup, unbeatable hairstyles and bold fashion brought the crowd to its feet. Their theme, I am Dark and Lovely, meant embracing all aspects of the African American woman from beauty, fashion and hair to personal goals and aspirations. They worked with notable bloggers – @sunitav_; @shinestruck; @afroista; @klassykinks; @coolcalmcurly – who served as show models, along with designer and former Project Runway contestant, Samantha Black, who created a collection to help bring the essence of the multi-dimensional African American woman to life.
Inspiration: We know that your hair can make or break your look. This event celebrates the beauty that hair brings to fashion and presents an opportunity to get together with real women, industry leaders, tastemakers and influencers during New York Fashion Week. Our goal was to empower women to embrace their edge, their sass, their class, and their texture!
Interpretation: “All the Looks of You,” showcases completely unique hairstyles and fashion that allow a woman’s authentic beauty to shine. Own it. Love it. Live it.
Inspiration: We were excited to bring new styles to the runways of New York Fashion Week through Texture On the Runway, which celebrates the beauty of all women and textures just like our products. We are excited to bring new styles to the runways where we can show the latest trends in textured hair and how to achieve the looks.
Interpretation: We will be presenting designs from De La Cruz New York. Our theme was “Lady in Red.”
Inspiration: Texture on the Runway presented an amazing opportunity for connecting with thought leading naturalistas and curly consumers looking for affordable curl care solutions and for us to showcase the beauty in the diversity of women whether you are wavy, curly, coily, loc’ed or a combination, we want to inspire women to wear their naturally curly hair with pride.
Interpretation: Since dryness is a huge concern amongst this audience, we showed women how to Declare War on Dryness, not their hair. We showcased military-inspired looks where the hair rocked with vibrancy and movement. Making peace with your texture was our ultimate goal.
Inspiration: We are inspired by women with textured hair and believe in creating beauty that connects people and celebrates their individuality, confidence and look. TextureMedia are experts in the curl community, and we were thrilled to interact, engage and create relationships with the curly hair influencer community.
Interpretation: Our theme was the power of curls that CAN. When your curls are strong, frizz-free and defined, you feel like the best version of yourself: confident and empowered. My Curls CAN unite curly girls everywhere, reminding us that our curls are as unique as we are, and together we can inspire, educate and laugh at the demanding needs and unpredictability of curly hair.
Supporting sponsors included: CURLS, Curly Hair Solutions, Jane Carter, ORS, As I Am, Aphogee, Carol's Daughter, ECOCO,Fantasia, Luster and Milani Cosmetics, the exclusive color cosmetics partner that provided all makeup services.
For more information about Texture On The Runway, visit TextureOnTheRunway.com.