The Pyer Moss AW18 Campaign & Video Are Important

A little over a month ago, Kerby Jean-Raymond, founder and creative director of Pyer Moss showed his view for SS19 and the brand’s second collection under the Reebok-umbrella during New York Fashion Week. Sending only black models down the runway, the designer, who since buying out his partners a couple of years ago, is the first one to sign an overall deal with the sportswear colossus while getting carte-blanche at the same time.

The first Pyer Moss x Reebok collection is in stores now and its beautiful campaign is showing a wildly undervalued but equally important and incredibly inspiring part of Americana, namely the activists, teachers and cowboys & cowgirls of colour.

If you are just learning about Pyer Moss, we forgive you. But we urge you to get familiar.

For the AW18 campaign, we took the concept on the road to speak to the modern-day cowboys; some are literal cowboys such as the Compton Cowboys and Cowgirls of Color and some are rebels who are working to make innovate and active change in their respective communities. A team, including Kerby Jean-Raymond, Anthony Konigbagbe, Eric McNeal, Jason Sondock, Simon Davis, and Amandla Baraka, traveled to Chicago’s Southside, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Brownsville to capture the stories of these polarizing and trailblazing Americans. There are 8 trailers and 1, 15-minute film as well as stills shot by Rubberband and Kerby Jean-Raymond for this campaign. The film is being scored by Raphael Saadiq. “Do you feel American?” is the question that started all the conversations, which resulted in compelling footage from all subjects involved. The Chicago leg of the campaign features Precious Blood Ministries, Ameena Matthews of Violence Interrupters and Good Kid Mad City featuring Vic Mensa. The Baltimore leg of the campaign features Valencia Clay and The Cowgirls of Color. The Los Angeles leg of the campaign features Angela Rye and the Compton Cowboys. The New York leg features Nadia Lopez of Mott Hall Bridges Academy.