09/07/2026
One month ago today, this room was empty.
Just walls, floors, racks waiting to be filled and an idea we had spent months carrying in our heads, our conversations, our plans, and most definitely… our prayers.
Then the doors opened.
And you ALL came.
You filled this room with curiosity. With conversation. With laughter. With people meeting designers they may have never known before, trying on pieces made thousands of miles away, hearing the stories behind them, and taking a little piece of those stories home.
For the last month, I’ve been quieter.
Partly because I was tired 😂, but mostly because I needed time to actually process what happened here.
When you spend so much time building toward something, you don’t always get to experience it while you’re in it. You’re solving problems, answering questions, at the register, checking numbers, moving things, making sure everyone is okay. And then suddenly… it’s over.
So I’ve been sitting with it.
The things that worked.
The things that didn’t.
The things I would do differently.
The moments I’m incredibly proud of.
And the possibilities that feel much bigger now than they did before.
But one thing I keep coming back to is this:
We wanted to create a space where African and Black fashion could be experienced not as something distant, niche, or “other,” but as something you could walk into, touch, try on, learn about, fall in love with and take home.
And for two days, we did exactly that.
A month later, I’m realizing that maybe we weren’t just filling a room.
We were making room.
For designers.
For discovery.
For culture.
For commerce.
For community.
And for whatever comes next.
Event Designer FOAM 11 STUDIOS
Event Planner and Decorator DMV Florist & Event Decorator
Production Team Event Production Company Dance Floorwrap Lighting Drapery DMV
Video Footage By Moyin Zaid
Venue ＡＴ ＹＯＬＫ
