Photographed by Mark Iantosca.For all the times when Fashion Week feels like the most important thing, it's good to remember there's a lot happening in the world beyond it. Yesterday, Shiona Turini, market director at Cosmopolitan, provided us with a perfect and timely reminder of that: a T-shirt honoring the memory of 11 Black men killed by police brutality.
Underneath the words "They have names," the tee lists Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teen whose killer George Zimmerman received a "not guilty" verdict; Amadou Diallo, a devout Muslim who was shot 41 times by the NYPD in 1999; Michael Brown, the recent high school graduate shot by police in his hometown of Ferguson, MO; and eight others, from 16-year-old school kids, to a 43-year old father, senselessly killed.
Ms. Turini tells us that the shirt was created and loaned to her by Kerby Jean-Raymond, designer of luxury sportswear brand Pyer Moss. We asked Jean-Raymond whether he had plans to make this shirt available for sale, but have not received a reply as of this writing.
These names — and the many other Black victims of police brutality — are worth remembering. Thanks to Turini and Jean-Raymond for keeping the conversation, and their memories, alive.