Tommey Walker's Houston design for Gucci
A just-announced collab between Gucci and Detroit designer Tommey Walker will benefit 11 nonprofits across the country, including the sustainable design house Magpies & Peacocks here in Houston.
Gucci's Changemakers program launched in 2019 to support social change and create opportunities within African American communities in 11 cities nationwide, and, for the first time, now has a charitable capsule collection to support the initiative.
Walker's label, Detroit VS Everybody, is known for its simply designed hoodies, tees, joggers and more, with white block-lettered statements such as "Everybody Vs. Injustice." His line for Gucci will include exclusive t-shirt designs for each of the Changemaker cities, available for $390 each in boutiques and on Gucci.com beginning today.
The Changemaker Impact Fund announced its 2021 winners in all 11 cities last week; Magpies & Peacocks is the Houston recipient. Gucci announced that a donation in honor of the VS Everybody collab will also be made to the 2020 winners, including H-Town's creative-writing org Writers in the Schools.
"My partnership with Gucci is a dream come true, not just for me and my team, but also for celebrating the city of Detroit's cultural richness and innovation," says Walker of the new line, adding that the two brands share "the same unifying ethos, to bring people together for a greater good and to transform a feeling into a cultural moment."
With his Astroworld album and subsequent music fest, Travis Scott shined an international spotlight on H-Town's hip-hop scene. Now, Scott seeks to draw attention to Houston's potential as a fashion capital, with the launch of a special collaboration with The New School's Parsons School of the Design. According to an article on Vogue.com, Scott's Cactus Jack Foundation has partnered with Parsons and the nonprofit My Brother's Keeper to deliver online fashion-design courses and a "web-based incubator for emerging talent" to Houston high schoolers.
With a goal to "set stylish young hopefuls on the path towards success," the new program will extend Parsons' unparalleled access to quality education, internships and mentorships to students from communities that have long been underrepresented on its campus. Parsons graduates include Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs and rising star Emily Adams Bode.
Scott's Cactus Jack Foundation is also responsible for administering scholarships to students attending historically Black colleges and universities, and implementing the Cactus Jack Gardens agricultural and nutrition initiative in elementary schools across the country. In 2018, Scott donated $100,000 to Workshop Houston, a Third Ward-based after-school program, and designed Astroworld-themed t-shirts for Eisenhower High School's senior class.
