This morning, in a detour from the Paris Fashion Week calendar, creative director Ib Kamara presented Milan-born Off-White’s first show in New York. Packing up and shipping off to a basketball court in Brooklyn, the label—founded by the late Ghanaian-American designer Virgil Abloh—took to The States for a collection full of transnational beauty titled “Duty Free.”
“The Spring Summer 2025 collection connects African roots with American dreams, where functionality meets fierce expression,” read the show notes. Co-signed by hairstylist Jawara and makeup artist Raisa Flowers, models (which included NLE Choppa and Solange’s son Julez) sported sleek-wrapped double ponytails, clean haircuts, and defined natural textures with sweaty, sportive skin.
For the double ponytails, Jawara and his team prepped the hair with Bumble and Bumble’s Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Primer to condition and soften the coils. Then, Bb.Gel and Spray de Mode hairspray were layered to slick down the hair and set the “half-up half-up” look. Once the two ponytails were secured, he wrapped the top pony in colored cords to match the model’s hair color, then attached to the base of the bottom.
“Words can’t express the energy and gratitude I feel bringing traces of my craft into the creative process for moments like this,” Jawara says on Instagram. For the models without braids, he used Sumo Liquid Wax+ Finishing Spray—his current favorite from Bumble and bumble—to make the hair texture appear wet and deliver added definition.
Meanwhile, Flowers doubled down on Off-White’s “duty free” message with passport-ready skin. Think: the reflective makeup-wiped skin you had when the passport agent says your makeup is too heavy for the photo. Models (some with the word “OFF” printed on their chest) leaned into ultra-bare beauty with their sweat-induced foreheads indicative of the last leg of a flight—or Brooklyn Bridge basketball game.
With celebrities like Mary J. Blige, Flavor Flav, and Victoria Monet on the front row, this season was a late-summer culmination of Black beauty. We’re reminded of the African diaspora—from Europe to the Americas—and the weight we hold in the international beauty community and the autobiographical identity of Off-White’s new director, Ib Kamara.
