On a sunny Sunday afternoon, creative director IB Kamara debuted Off-White’s first New York fashion show.
“I think America is a foundation of Off-White; I think it’s good to come home, show love to the city and the city to show love back. To celebrate the city and be part of an evolving community of a global traveler and global people, which is very New York,” he said backstage of his “Duty Free” titled spring collection.
The show was staged on the waterfront community basketball courts of Brooklyn Bridge Park and amassed a stellar front row featuring the likes of Flavor Flav (with his special guests, Olympic water polo player Ashleigh Johnson), Camila Cabello, Leon Bridges, Suni Lee, Lena Waithe, Issa Rae, Aryna Sabalenka, Frances Tiafoe, Ayan Broomfield, Paris Jackson, Zayn Malik, Victoria Monét and Mary J. Blige.
A few courts surrounding the runway remained open to the public, which felt symbolic of Kamara’s overall message.
“For me, I was an immigrant [from Sierra Leone] who immigrated to London. When immigrants sometimes immigrate to a new space, they need to bond with the community on a common ground. And for me, a basketball court is a no-brainer — everyone is equal and is within a community,” he explained. Naturally, the sports venue also played into the brand’s DNA of sportswear and streetwear.
He said the collection started in Ghana, the home country of the brand’s late founder Virgil Abloh, where Kamara spent three weeks in August 2023. Their similar life experiences shaped the collection’s connection between African craft and futurism and American sportswear (extending from fall), which Kamara fused to create a New York-bound, modern global traveler’s wardrobe.
In women’s, everything from sharp tailoring to party dresses to tracksuits were powerfully body-con-charged with sharp corsets, deep V-necks, asymmetric cuts and tight silhouettes. His leg-baring sheer wrap skirts (a nod to African draping, he said) with Americana star embellishments and jewelry-like hardware embroideries were especially great. For menswear, he leaned into ideals of the “modular urban uniform,” made up of zip-off utility and camo street layers (some featured embroidered sports numbers), or more maximalist colorful shredded denim and skintight crystalized hoodies. The brand collaborated with Ghanaian contemporary artist Nana Danso for its painted graphics and brand symbols on coed styles.
Cheekily riffing on “Duty Free” symbolizing the idea of being “off duty,” Kamara’s upbeat men’s and women’s proposition was sexy, sporty and certainly party-ready.