Pen.Style: AfriDally

Dear Pennies & Pens,

I am so excited to unveil our latest editorial Pen.Style: AfriDally! Drawing inspiration from Coming to America and Black Panther, AfriDally is about fusing African style with the culture of Dallas. AfriDally features an array of multicultural models wearing pieces by African designers.

AfriDally was shot in Deep Ellum; a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. Deep Ellum is one of the most historically significant art and music neighborhoods in Dallas. Established in 1873, as a residential and commercial neighborhood for African-Americans and Europeans immigrants, Deep Ellum is now a thriving neighborhood for art, music, fashion, and culture. In essence, I knew it would be the perfect location for the AfriDally shoot.

AfriDally is the best of both worlds, two cultures that seem to be on the opposite sides of the coin coming together to present a unified front. AfriDally represents the best of Dallas with a multicultural flair.

AfriDally features two emerging African designers, Mory Jay by Memory Jora and BabaAfrik Outfits as well jewelry from local Dallas boutique, Strut, and Vegan cosmetics brand, Civilized Cosmetics.

As far as the creative team, AfriDally featured models Danielle Mia Moore, Justin Collins, and Greg Peoples. AfriDally was shot by Dallas based Photographer, Emmanuel Lopez. And yours truly handled creative direction, styling, and makeup. My agency, 8515, oversaw casting and production.

I want to take the time to thank everyone who participated in this project! Thank you for believing in my dream and creative vision and making it a reality. To learn more about the designers and creative team, please see below. Be sure to support each of these amazing brands this Holiday season!

P.S. To see all the photos from the AfriDally editorial, check out the next post 1000 Words: AfriDally.

About Mory Jay by Memory Jora:

Mory Jay celebrates the modern African woman and bridges the gap between culture and  fashion with the rest of the world. Mory Jay was launched in June 2017 by Memory Jora, who is also the Creative Designer of the brand.  Memory is a former accountant originally from Zimbabwe, who left the business world to pursue her love and passion for fashion.

Becoming a fashion designer and creating her own brand was always a long life dream of hers. While she was still in high school, back in Zimbabwe, and drawing fashion sketches for her classmates and friends. She decided that she needed to come up with a unique name for herself that she would use as a signature on all her sketches. She and her friends agreed on the name  “MoryJay” a play on letters of her first name and last name. From then on the name stuck, and thus a brand name was created. To learn more about Mory Jay, visit: www.moryjay.com

 

About BabaAfrik Outfits:

BabaAfrik Outfits was founded in 2013 by Babatunde “Baba” Sanusi, a 2016 graduate of Clafin University with a B.S. in Marketing. In July 2016, our e-Commerce site was launched. The inspiration for the clothing line comes from Baba’s mother, Mrs. Adetoun Sanusi who is in the fabric business in Lagos, Nigeria.

At BabaAfrik Outfits, we are focused on providing quality outfits with the highest level of customer satisfaction while empowering and creating jobs for tailors back in Nigeria. To learn more about BabaAfrik Outfits, visit: www.babaafrik.com

About Strut:

Strut is boutique with clothing and jewelry for the everyday ATX & DTX babe. Strut has locations in Austin & Dallas. To shop Strut, visit: shopstrut.com

 

About Civilized Cosmetics:

Civilized Cosmetics began with the mission to bring natural beauty products made with harmless ingredients to the cosmetic industry and particularly to color cosmetics.  Our goal is the lessen the amount of harsh chemicals in color cosmetics, make wearing cosmetics more healthy, and protect the environment and animal rights.

With that in mind we created Civilized Cosmetics, and the Green Beauty products available to consumers.  Additionally, our goal is to offer Green Beauty products as high fashion, elegant looking product at reasonable prices.  Our first product is a Matte Liquid Lipstick in Suede colors. It’s the first prestige non-toxic vegan liquid lipstick — and we think it’s a game changer! To learn more and shop Civilized Cosmetics, visit: www.civilizedcosmetics.com

About The Creative Team:

Emmanuel Lopez is a Dallas based Photographer. Follow Emmanuel on Instagram: @itsemanlopez.

Danielle Mia Moore is Dallas based Model and Entrepreneur. Follow Danielle on Instagram: @idannymiamoore.

Justin Collins is a Dallas based Model, Actor, and Comedian. Follow Justin on Instagram: @4everjustinjay.

G Peoples is a Dallas based Model and Actor. Originally from Pensacola, Florida, G Peoples has worked with a variety of different designers and brands on runway shows and campaigns. G has modeled for Guns & Roses Boutique, RKJ, Men’s Fashion Week, and Joshwae. Follow G on Instagram: @G_Peoples.

LoudPen is a Dallas based Creative Director, Stylist, and Makeup Artist. Hailing from Cincinnati, OH, Penny has lived pretty much everywhere aka Cincinnati, Virginia, New York, Houston, and now Dallas.

Penny specializes in multicultural styling, magazine editorials, marketing campaigns, and personal styling. Penny has worked with a variety of different designers and brands such as Macy’s, Durrah Jewelry, Y-Clad, Jachs NY, Samantha Pleet, Cashhimi, and more. Follow Penny on Instagram: @LoudPen.

About 8515:

8515 is a multicultural creative agency co-founded by Cacha` and Pen. 8515 offers event planning, creative direction, styling, photoshoot production, casting, branding, marketing, public relations, and consulting.

We work with fashion, beauty, music, art, travel, food, and lifestyle brands. We focus on helping our clients build successful businesses. Our mission is to bring El Sabor so we live on Flavor Street.  To learn more about us, visit: www.8515agency.com

About ISLP:

ISLP is a lifestyle production company. We create lifestyle products such as books, magazines, music, films, clothing, accessories, art, beauty and home goods. We focus on making high quality, original products. ISLP was started by our CEO LoudPen in 2014.

We are the publisher of de la Pen…All Pen Everything, a multicultural lifestyle magazine. We are also the publisher of #MakeUrPenLoud: How To Be A Lifestyle Blogger. Currently, we’re working on developing several new products such as: Loud Magazine, LPZ, Pennies & Pens, Pen Planner, and The Loudest Pen Ever. To learn more about us, visit: www.theinkspotlp.com

And there it is. de la Pen…All Pen Everything. With us, keeping it real never goes wrong.