Nigeria-born designer Joy Meribe opened Milan Fashion Week on Wednesday with her debut runway one year after her collection found success.
She named her collection “We are made in Italy” to promote diversity in Italian fashion.
The Italian National Fashion Chamber tapped Meribe to open six days of women’s wear previews for Spring-Summer 2022, Associated Press reports.
Unable to contain her joy, Meribe broke down in tears after the show as she thanked the fashion chamber and the movement’s founders for getting her to the runway.
Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, who helped launch the initiative in the summer of 2020, said while answering the question of whether black lives matter in Italian fashion, “Beyond whatever video, proclamation or manifesto that we make, the real test is whether clients buy your products. Joy passed that exam.”|
The collection featured tiered and ruffled skirts and jackets with built-in capes that were both regal, as seen in an off-shoulder dress sweeping the ground, and hip, including a mini day-dresses and shoulder-baring tunic. Textiles were an explosion of bright yellow against an aqua blue, with tropic prints featuring thatched cottages against flourishing banana trees, which Meribe said was meant to celebrate a return to more normality.
“We have passed from a dark moment, and I wanted to create something full of hope and light, the joy of restarting,’’ she said backstage.
