Our 10 Favorite Fashio n Designers: OZY’s 100

Victoria Ripa was rocking out at a circus-themed fundraising event with her band, Croupier Funk, when she was spotted by lingerie designer and Srta Peel founder Loreley Turielle. The day after the event, Ripa had booked her first campaign with the brand. As a size XL, Ripa says that she was at first hesitant to take on modeling as a career because she rarely saw her size or body type represented in South American fashion or advertising. Yet she has become a celebrity in the world of plus-size modeling.

You don’t have to enroll in a prestigious design school to be a successful designer. Just ask Tanzanian designer Sheria Ngowi. A lawyer by training, Ngowi points out how, despite his lack of formal training, his designs have been featured alongside pieces from Paul Smith, Burberry and Tom Ford at prestigious fashion week showcases around the world. Ngowi is part of a rapidly expanding cohort of African designers who are forgoing the design-school path, while impacting the world of fashion thanks to a growing global interest in bright colors and expertly made textiles.

This powerhouse mother-daughter duo is the driver of Harlem Fashion Week, which showcases global designers of color and gives Harlem its day in the sun as an international nexus of fashion. By highlighting trends that originated in communities of color, this fashion week is a counterforce to cultural appropriation and has attracted many designers and sponsors.

Tanzanian-born-and-raised entrepreneur Fatima Kanji noticed a disturbing trend when she started checking the tags on her clothing. Many of the “African” clothes she had purchased were, in fact, mass-produced in Asian countries like Bangladesh or India. So she decided to do something about it, founding Pensar Africa, which ethically sources fabric and other goods from African artisans and sells them to buyers across the Americas.

Step aside, Milan. Amid a sea of white kandura robes worn by men and dark abaya cloaks worn by women, desert city Dubai is emerging as a fashion hotspot. International, modern and wealthy, the Emirati city has the tools for success, headquartering Vogue Arabia, boasting gargantuan, luxury shopping centers and even featuring a design district dedicated to hosting galleries and studios for high-end brands like Christian Dior and Burberry. But can Dubai compete with the long-established fashion centers of New York, Paris and London?

The fashion industry has notoriously pandered to racist stereotypes in the past. But now? The revolution is going far beyond Harlem. There’s Kerby Jean-Raymond at Pyer Moss and Shayne Oliver at Hood By Air, among other stars. That’s giving rise to a scenario where the next Karl Lagerfeld — the iconic fashion designer — might well be Black.

The Nigerian designer is defying his country’s deep-rooted traditional views of masculinity with a gender-fluid clothing brand that has become wildly popular — in a nation where same-sex marriages are banned and gay groups are criminalized. By deliberately embracing styles and fabrics perceived as effeminate, Oke-Lawal’s brand Orange Culture is challenging mainstream notions of what men should wear.

Luxury brands and fast fashion alike have long been prolific when it comes to waste, but a new crop of zero-waste designers is aiming to turn around the fashion industry’s reputation. Lines like Ambercycle and Modern Meadow are experimenting with scientific ways to reduce fabric waste, while other designers use recycled materials and create clothes from the scraps left over in fashion’s infamously wasteful factories.

While caring for her sick father, Okaro found herself using sewing to de-stress. She also felt inspired to create Custom Collaborative, a skills incubator for low-income women or women from immigrant communities who want to start fashion businesses. The Manhattan-based collective empowers women who are traditionally taken advantage of by the fashion industry, and encourages consumers to pay attention to the handicraft (and environmental impact) behind their purchases.

“Made in Vietnam” is taking on a new meaning. Once synonymous with the export of fast fashion, Vietnam is now giving birth to a generation of homegrown fashion designers. Among those making waves globally is Do Manh Cuong, who has worked with brands including Christian Dior and Dominique Sirop. Meanwhile, Nguyen Cong Tri’s daring outfits have cloaked A-listers like Rihanna and Katy Perry.

Do you know a fashion trend or designer that we should feature on OZY? Please let us know.