Last spring, we introduced you to Macy’s Icons of Style, a program featuring five Black designers working with the national retailer to create fashion and footwear collections on their own terms. Under the Icons of Style banner, these designers produced beautiful collections with the aim of challenging systemic racism in fashion, adding their crucial voices to this national conversation.
Now, Macy’s is back with a whole new Icons of Style crew, including Black visionaries like Ade Samuel, Areeayl Yoseefaw Goodwin, GooGoo Atkins, Jerome LaMaar, Matthew Harris of MATEO, and Stella & Blaise. Working in collaboration with Macy’s, each designer created a one-of-a-kind collection intended to move the fashion industry forward.
With Macy’s-exclusive designs across categories, including accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, men’s, plus-size, and gender-neutral, each Icons of Style capsule shows off its designer’s unique perspective.
This month, Macy’s released its Icons of Style collections on April 20, with items available via Macy’s e-commerce site and at select locations nationwide. With that drop in mind, we wanted to introduce three of this year’s designers now, with spotlights on the other three coming soon.
Ade Samuel x INC
Ade Samuel is a native New Yorker of Nigerian descent, who’s worked in fashion show production, editorial, and PR. Those jobs led Samuel to a career as a Hollywood stylist to some of the entertainment industry’s biggest names. In 2016, she also launched her own line of shoes. For Macy’s Icons of Style, Samuel created a collaborative Ade Samuel for INC collection of wrap dresses, pencil skirts, blouses, robes, and bodysuits inspired by her cultural roots and discerning eye.
HOME by Areeayl for INC
Areeayl Yoseefaw Goodwin is a self-taught jewelry designer who was born and raised in Philadelphia. She’s also the founder of HOME by Areeayl, an expressive jewelry line full of clever designs, premium materials, and cultural references. Every HOME by Areeayl piece is inspired by her dreams, experiences, and things that symbolize home to her. As one of 2022’s Icons of Style, Goodwin teamed with Macy’s on a HOME by Areeayl for INC capsule featuring 10 different earrings styles. Goodwin says these jewelry pieces are symbols of affirmation, grounding, and celebration.
GooGoo for Bar III
GooGoo Atkins is a celebrity stylist known for her keen perspective and ability to design clothes. Growing up as what she describes as “plus-sized kid” in a family that couldn’t always afford new clothes, Atkins traces her skills to being forced to improvise and create her own clothing that both fit her well and looked stylish. Today, she brings that inspiration to her styling jobs, as well as to her GooGoo for Bar III Icons of Style collection, which features trousers, jumpsuits, dresses, and more, all made for plus-sized women to wear and enjoy. GooGoo says, “The curvy community is where my heart lives” and her GooGoo for Bar III collection proves it in the most beautiful way possible.
Learn more about Macy’s Icons of Style here.
