Kerby Jean-Raymond has decided that he’s going to start taking “the Beyoncé approach.” The Pyer Moss founder and creative director said that he’s not doing interviews for a while because he too often feels misunderstood or misinterpreted. He also feels that his backstory has been told plenty already: born to Hatian parents in Brooklyn, the self-taught artist and designer worked for Kay Unger before launching his own label in 2013 as a vehicle for art and activism, a means of bringing narratives to the surface that celebrate both Black joy and Black pain. But Jean-Raymond did make an exception for the second episode of Good Morning Vogue, Vogue’s new fashion news show exploring the changing nature of the industry and running Monday, Wednesday, and Friday throughout fashion month.
Jean-Raymond, who this week won both the CFDA Award for Menswear Designer of the Year and a Harlem’s Fashion Row award for Designer of the Year, wants to move forward, tell new stories, cultivate new communities, and, as he likes to say, “see you in the new world.” He’s just announced a progressive new partnership with Kering called Friends in New York, which is short on details but big on ideas. As he told Vogue, it’s not another incubator or charitable endeavor, but rather a platform and organization through which young designers, especially those in the BIPOC community, can “have a fair shake” at advancing in the fashion industry, one that is sustainable long-term.