New York Fashion Week has its spectacles, but on Saturday night, Actively Black made it a ceremony. After a two-year hiatus, founder Lanny Smith returned to the runway with a declaration,“This is not a fashion show,” and rewove legacy into every look. The brand streamed the moment live on Spill, the Black-owned social platform, because the story wasn’t just about what we wear; it was about who we are and who owns the mic.
Held at Sony Hall, the presentation unfolded like a roll call of living history. Ruby Bridges—the six-year-old who walked through a hate-filled crowd in 1960 so generations could walk freer—took the catwalk to thunderous love. So did Dr. Bernice King and Ilyasah Shabazz, daughters of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, walking side by side in a moment that felt like a bridge between movements. Civil rights photographer Cecil J. Williams—whose iconic 1956 image of him drinking from a “whites only” water fountain—also stepped out to Bone Crusher’s “I ain’t never scared” giving audience members and viewers the courage to keep going.
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One icon after another, they kept coming. Olympic legends Tommie Smith and John Carlos, whose raised fists in 1968 still charge our spirits, were in the building. Fredrika Newton and Fred Hampton Jr. represented families who paid dearly and kept going. Even Juneteenth flag creator “Boston Ben” Haith got his flowers. It was a runway built like a syllabus—with each strut a piece of history was being taught.
Actively Black’s “Greatness in our DNA” message is the brand’s north star: a premium house built to uplift and reinvest in the Black community, turning apparel into affirmation.
The show’s energy matched the message. Hosted by AJ & Free—with a cameo by Terrence J—the night carried the ease of a family reunion and the pace of a block party.
Actively Black proved fashion can be beautiful and still bear weight. It can celebrate craft while centering community. And most of all, it can be a teaching tool to educate and empower others.
The brand promised this wasn’t a fashion show and they kept their word. It was a reminder, a reunion, and a relay—one generation handing the baton to the next and saying, “Walk in the greatness that exists within your DNA.”
New York Fashion Week won’t ever be the same and we’re grateful for it!
Cover photo: Actively Black Turned NYFW Into Living History / Photo Credit: darian.d.hall via Instagram