Black Is Queens!

Kenya Hunt, Fashion Director of Grazia UK, joins O.T.T today! A journalist, editor, my mentor, Kenya, recently added author to her resume. Hunt's debut book "Girl: Essays on Black Womanhood!" is a powerful collection of essays discussing the Black woman experience in this world that also features contributions from her peers, including Funmi Fetto and Jessica Horn. Hunt worked her way up the ranks from her Assistant Editor days at Jane Magazine to becoming Elle UK's first Black Deputy Editor. A powerful force in creating change in the fashion industry, she founded R.O.O.M mentoring, a mentoring scheme that aims to improve diversity in the fashion industry. I'm so grateful to have Kenya on O.T.T today! We will be discussing her rise in the industry, her move to London, and her incredible new book.

Fashion’s kindest, most talented, and low-key couple Aidan Zamiri and Paolina Russo join O.T.T today! Paolina Russo is a knitwear designer that is taking over the world one illusion knit bodysuit at a time. The Canadian-born designer’s work is rooted in suburbia, up-cycling, and sports culture. She has left us SHOOK since her BA Saint Martins’ graduate collection in 2018.  Russo was awarded the prestigious L’Oreal Prize for her BA collection. This September she released her Fall Winter 2020 Adidas Originals collection, blessing the world with her artistry on a global scale.One of the British Fashion New Wave Creatives of 2019, Aidan Zamiri is the creative director, photographer, filmmaker all-around bad bitch from Glasgow that has been like an oxygen mask bringing new life into the industry. Working with the most exciting voices in music today, Zamiri is bringing the fun, high energy, and life back into music videos. When he's not working with artists like FKA Twigs and Dreamwife, he is busy shooting campaigns for brands like Nike, Vivienne Westwood, and Louisa Ballou. I feel blessed and highly favored that they took time from their busy schedules to do O.T.T. Today we will be talking about their work, the Y2K obsession and how they stay minding their business!

Athena Paignton is a London based makeup artist, face painter, and illustrator. Paignton's work can be seen in The Face, Dazed, and Italian Vogue to name a few titles the makeup artist has lent her talents to. When she isn’t beating the faces of Pamela Anderson and Solange she is an avid environmental and mental health advocate. Today we are going to be talking about how her love for makeup manifested, her tips for getting through the second lockdown, and her worst early side jobs.

Multidisciplinary creative Gareth Wrighton joins O.T.T today. The designer, stylist, and video game creator has become one of fashion's most exciting and thought-provoking voices in the industry right now. Wrighton graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2016 and made waves with his final major project entitled "The Maul" a post-apocalyptic video game which took it’s players into a post apocalyptic parallel universe where zombies were weaning Wrighton’s collection. He made his Fashion East debut during the Fall-Winter 2019 season where he captivated the audience with his stunning knits, and satirical MAGA inspired hats with the slogan "My Period's Late Again". Today we are talking about his career, the pop culture moments that formed his taste, and our mutual love of Britney Spears.

Shamir first grabbed our attention in 2014 when he released his hit single "On The Regular" off of his critically acclaimed debut album Ratchet. Six years and six albums later the singer is gearing up to release his seventh album entitled Shamir. His self titled will be the second album the singer has released in 2020 after the release of Cataclysm this past spring. The lead single from this project On My Own is a quarantine bop that has been keeping us fed. Today we will be talking about his upcoming album, his love for knitting, Black mental health and how he recorded the album in quarantine.

Fashion Journalist Kacion Mayers and Stylist and Image Maker Joe Bates join O.T.T today. Mayers is the founder of the Dickprint a magazine dedicated to Black Gay Men, fetishwear and dressing for pleasure. Bates’ final major project at Saint Martin’s entitled ‘Lokko’ was a series of sickening self portraits that explored his relationship to subjecting himself to the white gaze. Today we’re talking about, Chris Evans, coons and Black Queer representation in media.

Kevin Ponce, Social Media Editor of V Magazine and Taylor Roberts Social Media Manager of Paper Magazine join O.T.T today. Social Media in general is such an important part of our daily lives but in quarantine its role in our lives has exponentially grown. Today, they will be discussing the experience of running social media accounts for fashion magazines in 2020, their unproblematic faves and how they find time for self care when their whole lives are online.

Fashion designer and stylist Edwin Mohney pulls up to O.T.T today to talk about everything from his work with legendary divas Christina Aguilera and Mary J Blige to his obsession MTV reality shows of the early 2000's. A graduate of Central Saint Martin’s MA class in 2018, Mohney brings wit, humor, and life into everything he creates.

Legendary supermodel and pioneer, Pat Cleveland is here to discuss her prolific career. Discovered at 14 by Vogue's Carrie Donovan, Cleveland went on to be a muse to fashion's brightest minds including Karl Lagerfeld, Antonio Lopez and Stephen Burrows, Cleveland broke barriers as a Black model in the fashion industry and to this day has one of the best runway walks of all time.

My friend, fluid fashion designer and recent Central Saint Martins’ FDM graduate Harris Reed calls in to discuss creating their final collection "Thriving in Our Outrage" in the height of a pandemic, their work with the Mermaids charity and what’s next for the up and coming designer.