Latest news with #Kareeba
Vogue
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
My Grandmother, Her Kareeba Suit: Visiting Family History at the Met's 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style' Exhibition
Ivy Coco Maurice ascended the storied steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ready to bear witness to a moment in personal, family, and fashion history. When she saw the Kareeba, the original suit style designed by the pioneering fashion designer and her late grandmother Ivy Ralph, she 'cried two rivers—maybe three.' 'It was a moment of spiritual release. I hadn't cried much since her passing, but on that day, I felt her with me. Her spirit walked beside me in that gallery,' she tells Vogue. Ivy Ralph's design features as part of the Costume Institute's spring exhibition, 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.' Ivy Ralph's original Kareeba suit design. Ralph's signature piece became the Kareeba (also spelled Kariba) suit—a style of jacket that's like a more formal version of the common bush shirt and safari jacket worn across Africa. It is worn without a suit and tie, making it more comfortable in a warmer climate. Over the years, the suit was worn by notable politicians—presidents of Tanzania, Barbados, and Guyana included—and musicians like The Jackson 5. 'The Kareeba was a revolutionary expression of Jamaican pride. When Jamaica was seeking independence from British rule in the '60s, my grandmother took it a step further in the '70s—decolonizing the way men dressed. She believed our liberation had to be cultural, too,' affirms Maurice. 'She saw how the suit-and-tie dress code didn't serve our climate. Men sweating through their clothes wasn't her style. So she created something breathable, sustainable, bold, and uniquely Jamaican. The Kareeba was her answer. Through her sharp eye and effortless design, she redefined Jamaican menswear.' A sandy-toned, exquisitely tailored original design from the '70s is now on display in the Met. A newspaper cutting from the '70s about Ivy Ralph's designs. An early piece of The House of Ivy ephemera. 'I had to pause, breathe, and remind myself: My reality is my grandmother's wildest dream. She ran so I could walk. And that day, I realized I wasn't just representing my family, I was representing Jamaica. The Kareeba is more than fashion, it's an artifact. It's history. 'Her-story.''
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nicholas Daley's Pratt Honor Is a Full-circle Moment
— It's been a year of firsts and full circles for the British designer Nicholas Daley, who was honored with the 2025 Pratt Fashion Visionary Award in New York on Friday. As this year's recipient, he follows in the footsteps of such other honorees as Francesco Risso, Robin Givhan, Lindsay Peoples, Kerby Jean-Raymond and Gabriela Hearst. More from WWD Richemont Jewelry Sales Surge at the End of a Difficult Year for Luxury Libby Wadle Takes on a Trip to Europe Pari Passu, Plus-size Sportswear Brand, to Close Up Shop Amid Economic Challenges and Tariffs During his visit to the college, Daley visited Pratt's Brooklyn campus and offered up some wisdom to the student body. '[My advice] was that even at my stage, I'm still doing new things and having first experiences. It will be the same for them — a never-ending cycle of learning,' Daley told WWD. His visit to Pratt also led the designer to reminisce about his time as a fashion student at Central Saint Martins. 'I met Monica L. Miller recently and her 2009 book 'Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of the Black Diasporic Identity,' was one of the books I referenced in my thesis, so it felt like a full-circle moment meeting her because I'm now part of her curation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style' exhibition,' the designer said. 'What I'm trying to pass on to the students of Pratt — or any university — is to let them know that it's a constant evolution in work, opportunities and how these things come back around,' he added. There's much to celebrate for the designer who founded his label a decade ago. Making his Met Gala debut with the musician Leon Bridges was one of them. Daley created a bespoke pinstripe suit in a rich navy and amber clay yarn for the stripes. When designing the outfit, the two men swapped references from the late '60s and '70s of James Baldwin, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Case in point, the cravat tie that Bridges wore was a direct reference to an image of Baldwin and it was knitted by Daley's mother Maureen. 'My mom used to knit stuff for my dad when they were first dating. She didn't really have that much money, but she knew how to knit. A lot of the first things she gave my dad were all these knitted ties, berets and jumpers,' he said. The Met Gala was a double win for the designer as he also got to see his own creation inside the museum. Miller and her team had picked out a look from Daley's spring 2022 collection that touched on designers with Caribbean lineage. The look is a safari suit inspired by the Kareeba suit, which was designed by Jamaican designer Ivy Ralph and became a prominent item of clothing in the '70s in Jamaica. 'That felt like another full-circle moment because the original Kareeba suit was there and then my piece, which is sort of a contemporary version of it, was there too,' said Daley, who had the opportunity to meet Ralph's granddaughter Ivy-Victoria Maurice, with whom he discussed the history of Jamaica and fashion. The lead-up to the Met Gala was a key affair for Daley and his British peers, who were spotlighted on the red carpet and at the exhibition. They included Martine Rose, Grace Wales Bonner, Ozwald Boateng, Charlie Casely-Hayford, Priya Ahluwalia and Tolu Coker. 'It shows you the progression, at least within the U.K., in regards to diversity and strong representation. It shows we've got depth and that things are working — it's also just nice to be part of that alumni,' he said. Best of WWD Photos of Noah Lyles' Fashion Barry Keoghan's Style: A Closer Look Fear of God Opens First Store at Selfridges
