{"id":345253,"date":"2026-06-22T03:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T03:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/345253\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T03:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T03:52:18","slug":"regional-black-designers-will-showcase-their-lines-on-juneteenth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/345253\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional Black designers will showcase their lines on Juneteenth"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Black Americans, Juneteenth is an important holiday, commemorating the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in Galveston received word of the Emancipation Proclamation, which had freed them. Many are looking for ways to celebrate Juneteenth,<\/a> and Leah Frazier, CEO of Think Three Media and creator of the annual Juneteenth Fashion Show, is bringing the event back to the Lexus Box Garden on Friday. <\/p>\n

This year\u2019s theme, \u201cUbuntu: Together, We Are \u2013 Together, We Rise,\u201d commemorates the history of African Americans and the broader African diaspora, where culture, story and style come together as one expression of Black pride, unity and creativity. The lineup for this year features regional designers<\/a> who use apparel to tell stories. Here are five to keep a close eye on.<\/p>\n

Mahiri Takai is no stranger to the spotlight. The Dallas native and fashion industry veteran was a featured contestant on NBC\u2019s \u201cOn Brand with Jimmy Fallon,\u201d and he\u2019s the founder of Men\u2019s Fashion Week Dallas<\/a>. For the designer, having his custom pieces featured on this particular runway felt different from any other show he\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

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CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel honored, one, to be able to come home, come back home to Dallas and be a part of something that doesn\u2019t just speak to a moment in fashion, but speaks to a moment in history,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Crossed Hats actually started as a fix for a problem he encountered while appearing on \u201cOn Brand with Jimmy Fallon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018I need to change my hat every day,’\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t shape up, I can\u2019t get a haircut, I\u2019m going thin in the middle, [and] I don\u2019t want that on camera.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commercially produced cowboy hats sold out. <\/p>\n

Tangwa<\/a> by Dacyn Mofor<\/p>\n

At 14, Dacyn Mofor is the youngest designer on this year\u2019s runway. He\u2019s also carrying a name that already means something in Dallas fashion circles. His father, Daniel Mofor, founded luxury menswear label Don Morphy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good because ever since I was young, I looked at my dad and I thought he was the best at what he does,\u201d Dacyn says. \u201cHim saying that I\u2019m soon to be better than him, it\u2019s more motivating and just makes me want to work harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

His brand, Tangwa, carries his grandfather\u2019s name and its Cameroonian meaning: father of the people.<\/p>\n

For this collection, called the \u201cBasic Man Collection,\u201d Dacyn is presenting five suits he believes every man should own.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could just wear the timeless and essential suits that you need,\u201d he said. \u201cI also want them to know that my suits are good quality and affordable, so your budget isn\u2019t really an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Dacyn Mofor is making a space in the menswear world. <\/p>\n

Annia Jenkins<\/a> didn\u2019t come into fashion through design school. Her path into the industry began with her late mother, Cynthia, and a luxury travel and concierge business they ran together called All Things Beautiful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were dressing so many women for their travel experiences that we said, \u2018Why not put them in things that are inspired by us, by our mother-daughter relationship, our love for travel,\u201d Jenkins says. Three days before launching the line, Cynthia died following surgery complications for a routine procedure. She never saw the brand come to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means the world to me because now this brand is legacy,\u201d Jenkins says. \u201cThis brand is more than just luxury. It\u2019s a story, a journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brand is sold internationally through Wolf & Badger in the United Kingdom, in boutique hotels and resorts, and to collectors in the UAE, and parts of Africa. This year, she\u2019s debuting a new collection at the Juneteenth fashion show called Kyoto, inspired by Japan. .\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenkins has spent the last several years investing in her business education alongside her design work, and in 2025, she was named Swimwear Designer of the Year by the Texas Fashion Industry. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese opportunities create something I call rooted,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen the wind blows, I don\u2019t expect to blow over.\u201d<\/p>\n

DY Work<\/a> by Loren and Tahnia McDaniel<\/p>\n

Loren McDaniel co-founded DY Work, a T-shirt brand, with her sister, Tahnia McDaniel, who doubles as the creative director for the Juneteenth Fashion Show. Loren doesn\u2019t call \u201cDo Your Work\u201d a clothing brand but rather a \u201cmovement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re using clothing as a vehicle to spread the message about mental health and personal growth, and using culture, your apparel, to spread the word,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"\"Loren and Thania McDaniel are inspiring people to do the work and wear a cute shirt while doing it. <\/p>\n

The brand was born out of a hard year. In 2020, Loren\u2019s job and relationships were falling apart. A call with her aunt led to three words that stuck with her: Do your work. During that time, she started therapy, went back to church and began journaling. She started pulling quotes directly from her own journal and putting them on a shirt. At events where she was originally selling wall affirmations, people noticed the shirt she was wearing. DY Work recently landed its first retail placement at Mosaic Makers in Bishop Arts. <\/p>\n

Loren sees a gap the brand is filling, particularly for marginalized communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAccess to affordable care isn\u2019t always available to us,\u201d she says. \u201cHow do we keep the message of mental health and personal wellbeing front and center, especially when access to those types of things isn\u2019t always as available as it is to other communities?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jewelry designer Deidre Hardin\u2019s grandmother eventually went from sharecropping to running her own beauty shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see what was possible, the resilience of us, that being told no so many times but never giving up, how we can make something out of nothing and it be celebrated,\u201d she says. \u201cWe know what our value is without being told and without apology.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same resilient instinct and the ability to make something of nothing run through her work. Hardin was diagnosed with lupus in 2002, and a church member gave her a small copper bracelet to help with her symptoms, a popular remedy in alternative medicine practices. But Hardin wanted something bigger, so she started making her own pieces. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t see it, then you make it for yourself,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

In 2012, after years of lupus complications, Hardin was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. In 2013, she received a heart transplant. It was during the wait for that transplant that her jewelry-making took off in earnest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to leave a legacy. I need to say I was here,\u201d she said. \u201cI pulled in my ancestral background, everything we\u2019ve done and how we got over in those storms. My jewelry kind of is a lift from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardin works exclusively in solid copper, using a cold-forging technique to pound the metal by hand rather than heat it. During periods of extended medical issues, she created a series called \u201cArmor of God\u201d, with six body armor pieces that serve as a record of her own healing.<\/p>\n

For this show, she is unveiling a new collection that\u2019s heavily Afrocentric, including a large crown, elaborate chest pieces, wire waist pieces, armbands and an expanded line of headwear.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of all the chaos you go through, when you layer it, it\u2019s beauty,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s the beauty of who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The runway is at Lexus Box Garden at Legacy Hall (7800 Windrose Ave., Plano) on June 19 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available <\/a>online. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Black Americans, Juneteenth is an important holiday, commemorating the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,64,17518,4660,160],"class_list":["post-345253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-events","tag-fashion-style","tag-interviews","tag-plano"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}