The latest “it” item wasn’t on the runways in New York, Paris or Milan this past month. It was in the streets — and it’s only an “it” item because Black folks made it so.

While luxury brand Loewe debuted its spring/summer 2023 collection during Paris Fashion Week, the streets were ablaze with the recently released inflated cat-eye sunglasses from the brand’s fall 2022 collection.

Content creator Pierrah Hilaire, speaking from Milan Fashion Week, said she doesn’t usually buy into anything too trendy given how fast trend cycles move on TikTok. 

“I was really surprised when I finally decided to make the purchase a few months into the hype that it was going to be popular. But I was like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to see a lot of people wear it.’ Because maybe that was just people who came to visit New York and left,” she said. “I think if it was maybe non-Black people I wouldn’t know how to feel. But I loved seeing Black creators wearing the shades.”

It reminded Hilaire of the early days of Telfar and seeing Black folks with the brand’s signature shopping bags. 

“It felt like the first wave of Telfar when you first saw us wearing it,” she said. “The community is like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re wearing it well.’ So it felt like I’m a part of this close-knit Loewe community.”

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