“The editor in chief for British Vogue [Edward Enninful] was there, and that was something that kind of threw me off guard,” says Kree, who modeled in NYFW for the first time ever in September.

“The casting directors already have the look in their head of what they want when these girls are walking in, so it’s nothing against my face or my look. There’s only one of me, so I have that against everyone else,” says Briana, who just walked in her third season at NYFW.

“The Pyer Moss show was very iconic. I didn’t understand what I was getting myself into until I was walking the runway. It was basically all black empowerment,” says 22-year-old model Cozy, who walked for Kerby Jean-Raymond’s Pyer Moss in September.

“My goal was always to capture the beauty of black women, to restore black pride and the spirit of black women.”

Beyoncé’s and Rihanna’s Vogue covers reminded me of the 18th-century black women who rebelled against the assault on their beauty in colonial Louisiana.

Grace Wales Bonner pulls from many, varied sources when creating, but her references never corrupt her vision. Nor do her clothes ever bastardize their inspirations.