Maya McFadden Photo
New Haveners gathered to “Connect Da Love” through fashion and music Saturday night.
The “Connect Da Love” Spring fashion show, organized by Shadoh Boxx Theatre and Ice the Beef, brought a full house of local designers, musicians, dancers, and models together for the first time since 2018.
The Saturday show at Bregamos Community Theater was hosted as a fundraiser for a locally filmed movie called The Three Little Kids, which was written and directed by Edmund“Bwak” Comfort with Ice the Beef President Chaz Carmon serving as the artistic director.
Models walked from the “bodega” to the catwalk to showcase the looks of growing clothing brands.
The organizers said that they plan to host another summer fashion show in two to three months.
Shadow Boxx Theatre and Ice the Beef have cosponsored community events together since 2000 but took a break from hosting during the pandemic. Saturday’s event aimed to showcase local designers, up-and-coming models, and budding artists.
Breast cancer survivor Vernetta “Lady V Holley” Holley, 59, performed her song “Me Too,” in which she rapped about experiencing breast cancer and sexual assault. Holley began her music career six years ago and has performed in Hartford and Atlanta.
Lady V Holley
She wrote the song she performed Saturday in 2008 after making a Facebook post about experiencing assault as a youth. In response to her post, she said, many family and friends were upset and accused her of lying.
“They just don’t understand that I can only just now talk about it,” she said.
Bwak, Shadoh Boxx Theatre’s founder, hosted the event, alternating between designer showcases and musical performances.
“We got talent lined up after talent,” he reminded the audience throughout the night.
Local designers, models, and artist brought he crowd to their feet and some even asked to purchase modeled clothing items on the spot.
Fashion show organizers.
A total of 15 – 20 local models strutted the work of the designers. Several artist performed throughout the night to keep the crowd excited. Designers, artists, and models came from Atlanta, Georgia, Waterbury, Bridgeport, and New Haven.
“We’re here strictly to nurture artists,” Bwak said.
The performers included; Epic the Poet, JourniJay, Lady V Holley, $.K.A.P the Pyro, Potty Bates, Diamond Tree, Lon G, Jwoan, Darryl Bookert, and Payton Douglass.
The designers included; BWP (Bwak Productions), Yazeeky, Black Seed Royal, Christian Semar, Lyfe, Pain N My Creations, Music Note Kids Club, KreativeKreationz Publishing Inc, I Am Art Entertainment, and Diamond Tree.
Designer Karam Christian Semar created several designs for the event to “show off nice looks without showing too much at the same time.”
Semar left New York and came to New Haven in 2015 to be closer to family. She has been into fashion since childhood, she began designing six years ago. Although her passion, Semar works in the real estate industry full time while designing on the side.
At first Semar designed men’s suit jackets and ties. The idea came from a childhood tradition she and her sibling had with her father, who would often ask one of his kids to tie his tie when he dressed up to go out.
Now Semar makes versatile men’s and women’s clothes. One piece modeled Saturday was a reversible black and white shawl that could also be worn as a skirt.
Karam Christian Semar and Leighton Johnson.
Designer Leighton Johnson, founder of the brand Black Seed Royal, had more than just clothes on display Saturday. He also distributed VIP guest samples of body moisturizers, lotions, and soap. The brand also features body butters and candles.
Johnson moved to New Haven from New York in 2003 after his mother, who worked in the World Trade Center, sought new work and a new beginning for Johnson, who was a caught up in the streets.
“The next stop was death,” Johnson recalled.
Three years ago Johnson founded Black Seed Royal. He recently brought his girlfriend, daughter, and mother on board to the brand to open a skin care line.
He described fashion as “in my blood.”
Watch some of the performances below.