LOOK BACK: Material Liberation Vol 2 - The People's Fashion Show

Please stay tuned for the 3rd iteration of Material Liberation next year! We are so grateful for this community of artists, designers, and organizers.
The second iteration of Material Liberation, the People’s Fashion Show, focused on the sights and sounds of freedom. While the symbiotic relationship between fashion and music is well understood, this event highlighted how both can be used as cultural tools that paint visions for liberation and make clear the path to get there.
The People’s Forum, located in midtown New York, hosted this Material Liberation Vol 2 Fashion Show from 7pm on Friday, November 18. The show featured local designers, who are able to show us what fashion outside of the exploitative capitalist system can look like.
Featuring live music from Speakeasy and fashions by 1804 Books, Quinn Chen, teniola funmi, cloudie jobi, Justice Kwesi Kwarteng and WAVVZ NEW AGE, Julian López, Ariel Moore, Jocasta Wenk, Yakin that embody the freedom visions of queer and BIPOC designers, this event offered a multisensory experience to open our minds to our collective possibilities and ground us deeper into our commitment to the struggle.
This was not your typical fashion show. This was a fashion show for our people and we are so grateful for everyone to join this celebration of beauty and joy.
We collected clothing donations for Free Store Astoria, a mutual aid group in Queens, NY at this event. We invited everyone to bring clean, weather-appropriate clothing. The event also featured a vendors market with locally made crafts, jewelry and garments.