00:00It's a pleasure and I want to thank the Essence family for inviting me here to celebrate black fashion.
00:07To celebrate the designs that some of the people in this room either did themselves or some of the people actually put on.
00:16I thank each and every one of you. Today I'm wearing two designers from two different countries.
00:23Maya Tafok did my slacks from Nigeria. And Oswald Boateng, Savile Rose's first black designer.
00:33British Ghanaian, my brother, Oz did the top. I even actually have black design underwear to be honest for the side.
00:43So when you... I didn't want to say it around you.
00:52And then on my feet I have Babush, Babush from Senegal.
00:56So just so we're clear, everything I'm wearing was designed by a black designer, by an African designer.
01:04Everything from head to toe.
01:09In this day and age it's utmost important that we own the means to the end.
01:16My prayer is that every black celebrity that's walking a red carpet, every influencer, starts to wear black designers, African designers only.
01:28I believe in so much that at some point I'm going to start shaming people if they're not.
01:32Because we can't be the style icons and not also be wearing our own designers.
01:39And then to take it a step further for the designers in this building, at one point, at some point in this generation, we also have to manufacture our clothes in Africa.
01:53It's not going to happen in the US more than likely. It's a service based economy.
01:59If it does, great. And if it is manufactured here, make sure it's at a black textile spot.
02:04But those really don't exist. And in Africa they are lacking.
02:09So this is what my hope is for all of us in this room, that we can make that pact moving forward for future generations.
02:16So that everybody walks that red carpet and we know that we own it from head to toe.
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