A Black American Designer Disrupts the French Couture

Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss reinvents the oldest form of French fashion with politics, humor and a Black Panther.

Villa Lewaro, the Palladian estate built in Irvington, N.Y., by Madam C.J. Walker, a child of slaves who became a beauty mogul and the first female self-made millionaire in the United States, is pretty far, geographically speaking, from Paris — about 3,605 miles. But that’s where the couture shows came to a close, with a — what to call it? — installation, performance piece, happening from Pyer Moss, courtesy of Kerby Jean-Raymond, the first Black American designer to be officially invited to show on the couture schedule. Or to be livestreamed on it, to be accurate. That’s where they concluded two days late, because the originally scheduled Pyer Moss debut had been rained out by the aftereffects of Hurricane Elsa.