Kerby Jean-Raymond: The Designer Making Fashion Face Reality

Fashion has a long history of avoiding political statements. Kerby Jean-Raymond built an entire career out of making them anyway.

The Haitian-American designer founded Pyer Moss in 2013, and from the beginning, his collections were about more than clothes. His breakout 2015 show, “They Have Names,” featured videos of Black people killed by police — a choice that made the fashion world deeply uncomfortable. It also made them pay attention.

Jean-Raymond grew up in Brooklyn and Flatbush, the son of Haitian immigrants who’d come to the United States with little. He studied at the High School of Fashion Industries and later at the Fashion Institute of Technology, but he’s said that his real education came from understanding what it meant to be Black and Haitian in America. That understanding — the complexity of it, the pain of it, and the beauty of it — runs through every collection he’s ever made.

In 2018, he became the first Black American designer to present a collection at New York Fashion Week on the official calendar. In 2021, he made history again as the first Black designer to present during Paris Couture Week — a milestone that took the fashion establishment decades to reach. His collections are known for reimagining Black American cultural history: the “American, Also” collection explored the legacy of the Black cowboy, while “Wat U Gon Do” took inspiration from the Black church and gospel music.

Pyer Moss isn’t just a fashion label; it’s a cultural project. Jean-Raymond has used his platform to address everything from police brutality to mental health in the Black community to the erasure of Black contributions to American culture. He’s collaborated with musicians, visual artists, and filmmakers, treating each collection as an opportunity to tell a story that the fashion industry has historically ignored.

In 2020, he was awarded the CFDA American Menswear Designer of the Year award. Reebok named him Creative Director for the brand’s Reebok x Pyer Moss collaboration, which brought his vision to a mass audience. He’s been profiled in every major fashion publication and collected by museums.

But what’s most remarkable about Jean-Raymond is that he’s done all of this on his own terms. He hasn’t softened his politics to make the industry comfortable. He’s made the industry come to him.

Photo: Kerby Jean-Raymond, founder of Pyer Moss. Via Hyperbeast / University of Fashion.

Quick Facts

• Brand: Founder of Pyer Moss (est. 2013)
• Heritage: Haitian-American, raised in Brooklyn and Flatbush
• History made: First Black American designer to show at Paris Couture Week (2021)
• Also first: First Black American designer on the official NYFW calendar (2018)
• Signature show: “They Have Names” (2015) — videos of Black people killed by police
• Honors: CFDA American Menswear Designer of the Year (2020)
• Also: Creative Director, Reebok x Pyer Moss