Black culture takes centre stage at Barrie fashion show

A celebration of African culture was on display Sunday afternoon as models walked the runway for the first ever Afro Fusion Community Fashion Show at Five Points Theatre in downtown Barrie.

The event, hosted by UPlift Black Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, was meant not only to serve as an opportunity to celebrate Black culture, but also to help raise funds for the newly formed Simcoe County Black Coalition, said Shelly-Ann Skinner, president and founder of UPlift Black.

The coalition includes more than 10 organizations in the region that are “Black led, Black serving and Black focused,” she told BarrieToday prior to the fashion show.

“It’s an opportunity to highlight some of these organizations and bring the community together to celebrate the culture and the richness of those folks who are part of the African diaspora,” said Skinner.

“This is also a showcase to bring those local artists and creatives together to perform and be alongside award winning designers. They get a little bit of that extra uplift being among those that are further along in their professional journeys.”

The show highlighted several members of the UpLift Black artist collective, and gave the events team that has been working with UPlift Black over the last several years the opportunity to “take it up a notch” by helping plan and organize a bigger scale event, she added.

“Today is really just a celebration, and a day that we are hoping can bring every year,” she said, noting the intention is for it to take place every year. 

“We want to celebrate Black culture 365 days a year, not just during Black History Month,” she said.

“We also want to connect the historic beauty of African culture to (the) mainstream and what is happening today. I think you haven’t really seen anything that has been celebrated for African culture in this community in this way before. We really think it’s great to bring the community together to see what these incredible Black designers have to offer.”

All together more than 75 people were involved in the show in some form, added Skinner, ranging from models and designers to volunteers.

While Sunday’s event may not have brought out the audience she’d hoped the first time around, Skinner is confident moving forward the word will spread.

“For the first one it can be hard for people to come out. We know after the buzz of this event — we have so many photographers, influencers who are in space who are going to really boost it — so people are not going to want to miss this next year.”