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On Saturday, July 15, Curlfest brought together thousands in Prospect Park to celebrate natural hair and diversity with good food, exclusive beauty products, and shopping set to the sounds of a DJ that kept the crowd rocking. Literally. This is the fourth year in a row that the Curly Girl Collective, a marketing group that specializes in multicultural beauty, has put on the event, and it was the biggest and best yet.
“It started as just an idea and it’s grown exponentially every year,” Charisse Higgins, Curly Girl Collective’s director of public relations, told Refinery29. “We realized when we were on the stage and when were swag surfing that we are touching lives in remarkable ways. There is a need for this.” A need that’s made all the more clear in our country’s political climate.
“We just want people to recognize that we are beautiful,” Higgins continued. “Black women and women of color are dope. I sometimes, we don’t understand that being in a work setting and not being the majority and being in the minority sometimes we don’t stand in our dopeness, and this is an opportunity for us to look around and admire in our likeness that are amazing. That should be celebrated.”
As image activist, writer, and cultural commentator Michaela Angela Davis said: “Whenever there has been a dark time in history, Black people create beauty. And [today], is really about Black women.” And the women at Curlfest reminded us that all you need to compliment your sun-kissed skin this summer are bright and bold colors and prints. Click on to see the outfits that inspired us.
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