Ikiré Jones’ Latest Fashion Editorial 'Born Between Borders' Is Dedicated to American Immigrants

Last we checked in with Ikiré Jones, a Philadelphia-based, politically-engaged, West African bespoke streetwear line, its Fall 2016 Collection had been unveiled. Shot in Florence, it sought to cast an elegant and humane light on African male migrants, who have been fleeing their home countries with the promise of asylum in Italy.

Now Walé Oyéjidé, the brand’s Nigerian-born creative director, has set his sights on a collection dedicated to American immigrants called Born Between Borders.  In the pictorial, models styled by Patrice Worthy, are enrobed in zebra and gothic-patterned suit-jackets with en vogue white-paint markings whisked across some of their faces. The direction is aptly timed as June commemorates Immigrant Heritage Month.

A short story accompanies the new collection on the Ikiré Jones website:

Some of them packed what little they had, and strode across an endless desert. Some of them abandoned established careers and respected titles to sit at the bottom rungs of a foreign society. Some climbed fences. Many boarded planes. But all of them came from far away, to live in a place where they would be mocked if they weren't ignored. Of course, they did it all for us.

It continues,

 We are the children of engineers that drove your taxis. We are the sons of surgeons that served your tables, and we are the daughters of diplomats that held open your doors. In spite of their genius, our parents were bedeviled by the black magic of bureaucracy and backward immigration policies. But not us. we are the future that their hard-work and discarded dreams foresaw. We are that tomorrow that was claimed by brave women and men who had little, but risked it all because they believed. We are the children that were born between borders. Influenced by a new world, and inspired by the old they left behind. We carry our parents dreams with us; like ghosts that no one can look past. There are no tables we will not overturn and there are no locked doors we will not dislodge. Get to know us.

See below photo highlights from Ikiré Jones’ Born Between Borders, photographed by Rog Walker, and view past and present collections at ikirejones.com.

Image by Rog Walker, Courtesy of Ikiré Jones

Image by Rog Walker, Courtesy of Ikiré Jones

Image by Rog Walker, Courtesy of Ikiré Jones

Image by Rog Walker, Courtesy of Ikiré Jones

Image by Rog Walker, Courtesy of Ikiré Jones

Image by Rog Walker, Courtesy of Ikiré Jones

Image by Rog Walker, Courtesy of Ikiré Jones

Image by Rog Walker, Courtesy of Ikiré Jones

Models:

Kamau Hosten

James Jean

Jeremiah Nvamah

Patricia Kissi-Nvamah

Stephen Obisanya

Evan Rossi

Patrice Worthy