Afro Nouveau

Art Nouveau, an art movement popularized by painters like Alphonse Mucha and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, is a restrained, yet powerful style has always been a favorite of mine. The subject matter usually involved the beautiful framing of a leisurely European woman, with decorative flowers and peaceful environments. I wanted to take this movement I admired and inject a new energy, new perspective…I wanted to turn it on its ear, blow it apart, and put it all back together again. Then it came to me… beauty comes in many forms…and it is not always shy or genteel. Demure European woman certainly have a prominent place in our art history, but if your’re really paying attention, beauty comes at us in many forms…we find and admire it in the bold, the strong and the independent. Powerful and heroic women of color particularly of the 60’s and 70’s eras immediately jumped out to me… instead of the long flowing hair Art Nouveau is known for, we would celebrate the Afro instead, a natural hairstyle of people of color, iconic of the 60’s and 70’s. Afro-Nouveau was born soon after; the kinky haired love child of Art Nouveau and iconic heroines of color. A way to celebrate both allure and strength, Afro Nouveau is a collection to remind us that badass is beautiful too.