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The Brooklyn Wave presentation in Brooklyn during NY Fashion Week.

The hottest new designs in fashion are found beyond the conventional runway, a place a bit different from what you’ll find at Lincoln Center. Instead, think of an industrial, yet stylish area. Somewhere that creativity is not contained. Think of one of the most unexpected places in the heart of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. The venue?  Streb Lab for Action Mechanics AKA S.L.A.M., the home of The Brooklyn Wave Fashion Showcase, a  self-described “artist-driven community institution.”

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The Brooklyn Wave presentation in Brooklyn during NY Fashion Week.Since its birth in 2009, The Brooklyn Wave has fought to bring together and provide an outlet for the trendiest people and personalities on the Brooklyn scene. This season, this seemingly word-of-mouth presentation continued its tradition.

Music video producer, Zaire Baptiste, and the show’s co-producer Al-Karim Powell-Daresburg founded The Brooklyn Wave with intentions of establishing a relationship between “the fashion-forward public, trendsetting designers,” and the world of entertainment. Their goal was to help inventive artists, dancers, and designers whom they met on a daily basis, to brandish their talents. 

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The Brooklyn Wave presentation in Brooklyn during NY Fashion Week.

As we approached S.L.A.M., we could hear popular club music blaring through the speakers of the building that, ordinarily,  rests on a quiet, untraveled street. Upon entering the rec-like area it was clear that The Brooklyn Wave, though a small show, had spread the word of its existence to fashion followers; at least sixty some-odd guests had turned out to ride the Wave.  The showcase delivered a fistful of edgy designers on the come up, an acrobatic dancer, and even a rising R&B singer.

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The Brooklyn Wave presentation in Brooklyn during NY Fashion Week.

The show began, and ended, with entertainment. At the start, two long bands of turquoise fabric hung from the ceiling, a prop for a dancer who tied, twisted, and flipped her way in them from the ground, to a high horizontal pillar of the Streb club, and back down. Then came the runway show. Models of all sizes were represented and embraced in each category including swim wear, urban couture, and a heritage derived line. Next the show was closed by Paya, a new singer who danced and sang, declaring she’s ‘not an ordinary girl’.

Each designer we spoke to said they became involved with the show through recommendations of friends. 

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The Brooklyn Wave presentation in Brooklyn during NY Fashion Week.

Swimwear vet Monica Yepez has been designing for fifteen years. Though she’s used to creating a collection of sixty pieces, she produced a twenty-piece line for this show.  She named beautiful ladies as one of her many inspirations.

 ‘It’s a very good show for up-and-coming artists like me,’ said Eve, a costume jewelry designer. ‘A lot of people don’t really know about my creations, I’m so grateful for this show. I mean, I did just come from nowhere.’

Eve said she aims to make unique, avant garde items us