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“I’m here to mentor!” Colm Dillane calls out as he saunters into the Brooklyn Borough Hall’s community room, five days before KidSuper’s ‘The People’s Runway’ show, set for Sunday evening. The designer is in KidSuper tracksuit bottoms and cap, a light blue ‘Speed does New York City’ T-shirt and Nike sneakers.
Dillane’s greeting is directed at four of the five emerging designers who will be showing during the KidSuper x Brooklyn Borough Hall event on Sunday evening. Dillane normally shows in Paris, but always manages to make an appearance during fashion week in New York, the brand’s home city. Last season, he hosted a comedy show. The season prior, a gala to celebrate the opening of his store-slash-community hub in Williamsburg.
This season, he decided he wanted to be on the official CFDA calendar. But instead of showcasing a new collection (which he did in June at Paris Men’s), he enlisted five emerging Brooklyn designers to mentor and showcase. The five designers are Ahmrii Johnson, Daveed Baptiste, Kent Anthony, Rojin Jung and Shriya Myneni. (Baptiste isn’t there on Tuesday afternoon, as he’s at the annual Harlem’s Fashion Row show.) The show is in partnership with Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso, meaning it’s funded by a mix of city support and external sponsors like prebiotic soda brand Poppi. In keeping with the community ethos, the show is open to the public.
Tuesday is the first time Dillane is meeting the designers whose work will be on show (alongside five of KidSuper’s existing designs) in person. He’s been on FaceTime with all of them, and they’ve been texting back and forth. Before Dillane arrives, Johnson, Anthony, Jung and Myneni are busy at work in their respective corners of the room, which is relatively sparse save for their clothing racks and some Brooklyn-branded dividers in one corner. Myneni, who has just graduated from Parsons, is fitting a corset on a model (who, like most of the models in the show, was street cast). Later, another model strolls in, carrying takeout and a large Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee. Johnson helps her get into a large, cobalt blue bubble skirt (“It’s really heavy,” the designer told us earlier).