ESSENCE Fashion House™ Amplifies Forever Black Fashion with Black-To-The-Future Experiences

The Initiative Returns as a Carbon-Neutral, Phyg-it-al (In-Person and Digital) Experience and Celebrates Black Fashion Creatives - The Cultural Catalysts of Fashion and Style

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Essence Communications Inc., the leading and only 100% Black-owned media, technology and commerce company at scale dedicated to Black women and communities, presents ESSENCE Fashion House™ during New York Fashion Week on September 12, 2022. ESSENCE Fashion House™ illuminates the revolutionary and evolutionary influence and innovation that diasporic Black individuals and institutions have in the fashion ecosystem, while confronting the ways in which their works have been sequestered, suppressed, and appropriated. Through live and virtual engagement, the initiative is a celebration of culture, equity, creativity, and the economic opportunities established and made possible within the Black fashion community. The day will tackle topics around the future of Black fashion featuring experiences like immersive augmented reality (AR) galleries and digital “shoppable” marketplaces. A global platform for Black creators, Blacktag, will serve as a strategic creative partner lending its digital content innovation expertise to bring the experience to life at the intersection of art and technology.

ESSENCE Fashion House™ includes trendsetters, industry legends, unsung heroes, suppliers, models, activists, and other industry drivers that continue to anchor Blackness and fashion with nuance and futurism moving beyond the cursory discourse of diversity theater:

• Innovation and Meaningful Growth in the age of TikTok with the Yusufs
• Carving Out Your Individual Journey in the Fashion Industry with Sandrine Charles and Kat Mateo
• Heritage and the Preservation of Traditional Techniques within Web3 with Blacktag in partnership with Lagos Fashion Week
• Keynote: How to Make It in the Garment District with Wole
• “Style & Slay” with Kahlana Barfield featuring livestream from Bambuser
• “Pick Up – Pop Up” Black no-Owned Marketplace

ESSENCE Fashion House™, will conclude with an exclusive Best in Black Fashion Awards Dinner honoring visionaries and innovators in the space. Honorees include:

• Designer of the Year: Christopher John Rogers
• Stylist of the Year: Gabriella Karefa-Johnson
• Influence of the Year: Amanda Murray

This event is invite only.

“We intend to disrupt the default systems that have historically served to diminish our impact and instead actively and unapologetically gather the Black community to economically, socially, operationally and emotionally reclaim the value of the cultural blueprint, trends, and aesthetics popular culture has leveraged for generations,” said Essence Ventures President/CEO Caroline Wanga.

ESSENCE Fashion House™ will add a virtual experience to the live components via ESSENCE.com. In a conscious effort to produce more sustainably responsible events, ESSENCE Fashion House™ will be hosted at The Walker Fashion Experience Powered by The Place, an immersive fashion week hub combining tech, fashion, music and blockchain with a focus on creating a net-zero path forward for the fashion industry.

Attendees can gain exclusive access to the 2022 Fashion House content and activations starting at 11AM EST/ 8AM PST. For more details, visit ESSENCE.com/FashionHouse2022.

ABOUT ESSENCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.

Essence Communications Inc. is the number one—and only 100% Black-owned—media, technology and commerce company at scale dedicated to Black women and communities. With a community of more than 31 million Black women, ESSENCE inspires a global audience through diverse storytelling and immersive original content rooted in Culture, Equity and Celebration. The brand's multi-platform presence in/ publishing, experiential and online encompasses its namesake magazine; digital, video and social platforms; television specials; books; and signature live events, including Black Women in Music, Black Women in Hollywood, ESSENCE Black Women in Sports, Fashion House, Street Style and the ESSENCE Festival of Culture.

ABOUT BLACKTAG

Blacktag is a global platform for Black creators. Our mission is to build the largest network of Black creators in the world so we can demonstrate Black creativity's undeniable contributions to Global culture. Blacktag’s creator studio serves as an incubator for creators, brands, studios and networks to generate projects, campaign initiatives and quality content. Blacktag works with world-class partners to operationalize purpose through insight, culture, experiences & content. Our process helps brands discover how to build trust and cultural relevance amongst Black creators and consumers. Blacktag believes intentional and authentic programming and partnership can foster community, expand opportunity, and most urgently, economically empower Black creators and artists.