By Qianna Smith on Feb 15th 2010 12:43AM
Filed under: Fashion Week, Designers, Fashion News
Black beauty was celebrated for the third season at the ARISE African Collective Part III. ARISE is the first global style and culture magazine to celebrate African achievement in fashion and arts. This season, they selected South African designers
Jacques Van Der Watt and
Danica Lepen for Black Coffee, Nigerian designer Deola Sagoe and Tanzanian designer
Anisa Mpungwe for Loin Cloth & Ashes, who presented their collections to a packed house at the main tent at Bryant Park in New York City. Show producer
Jan Malan transformed the tent into a virtual African day-and-night landscape with elaborate staging inspired by award-winning poet
Ben Okri.
Black Voices was there for the gorgeous show and backstage excitement.
"I'm always excited to walk in ARISE because I've been doing it for the last three seasons, and it's great to come together with all top faces in fashion right now," said supermodel in the making Chanel Iman. Backstage at the show, she dished that she has to have her cell phone, iPod and Rose Bed lip gloss to get her through fashion week.
We ran into one of our favorite Dominican beauties,
Arlenis Sosa, who shared the reasons she loves walking in ARISE. "What I love about ARISE is that it highlights the beauty of so many different brown skin tones. Women everywhere can see someone who looks like them on the runway, and that's inspiring."
We chatted with the always sweet
Sessilee Lopez, a haute young American girl, who is currently ranked the #13 model in fashion, about fashion week moving to Lincoln Center. "It's sad to leave the tents, but it's a new beginning. I'm excited since I live in Harlem that everyone is heading Uptown!"