Kirby's Vision
Through highlighting the beauty of the black experience while never shying away from social commentary, Pyer Moss continues to push the boundaries of traditional structures within high fashion. Founder Kirby Jean-Raymond, raised by Haitian immigrants in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, expressed a passion for the creative arts at an early age. His family took notice and enrolled him in The High School of Fashion Industries, a selective magnet school based in Manhattan, whose curriculum centers around fashion design, marketing, graphic design, photography, and visual merchandising. Kirby eventually attended Hofstra University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration in 2008. Considered a bright student on track to law school, he pivoted his career back to working in fashion design. Ultimately where strengthened his creative muscles through freelance design gigs for brands such as Theory, Marc Jacobs, and Kenneth Cole. However, he soon realized he wanted to create his brand centered around his vision and perspective on his life, ultimately leading to him independently establish Pyer Moss in 2013, where he was able to explore the countless mediums of black art with little to no restraint.
Couture Meets Black History
Pyer Moss has never shied away from addressing the plight of many African American communities through the brand's runway collections and show experiences. The brand earned their prominence through its 2016 runway show, where the highlighted themes centered around police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movements. The show included models embellished in all-white fabrics, showing fake blood slowly dripping down some of their outfits, while others showcased graphics with the infamous phrase "I Can't Breathe."
Despite how racism is embedded in the lives of black Americans daily, Pyer Moss also does a fantastic job of highlighting the beauty, strength, and intelligence of the Black community. A perfect example of this would be when Kirby celebrated prominent black figures during his fall/winter 2021 Haute Couture show during Paris Fashion Week. The show entitled "Wat U Iz" kicked off with a speech by former black panther chairwoman Elaine Brown and was hosted at one of the homes of the renowned African American entrepreneur, Madam CJ Walker, in New York, who was America's first female millionaire. The show featured several pieces showcasing everyday objects invented by black entrepreneurs, like peanut butter (created by the African American inventor George Washington Carver), which was reimagined as a cropped brown leather dress with matching thigh-high boots outlined by gold accessories.
Challenging the Status Quo on Consumerism
Within the world of e-commerce, brands are constantly searching to find new ways to garner the attention of their target audience through social media campaigns and through innovative yet ethical ways to sell their products. To celebrate its 10th anniversary as a brand, Pyer Moss decided to host a sale entitled "loot out," in which customers were notified via Instagram featuring an Al chatbot listing out instructions on the event and how to participate. The rules were for customers to purchase either a $100 ticket or a $300 ticket and then had a limited amount of time to add as many clothing items from previous collections to their cart: 1 minute for $100 ticket holders and 5 minutes for those who purchased the $300 ticket.
Although criticized by many, Pyer Moss continues to create narratives around social justice by reshaping and challenging how the world thinks of black expression. Overall, the event perfectly encapsulated Kirby Jean-Raymond's vision of producing quality products and experiences to celebrate the community he grew up in and create economic opportunities for the next generation.