Kiki Layne Launches 'Black Is Brilliant' With RAD And De Beers Group Featuring Jewelry By KHIRY At The 2021 Metropolitan Museum Of Art Costume Institute Benefit

News provided by

Sep 15, 2021, 08:55 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RAD x De Beers Group launch #BlackIsBrilliant Campaign with Kiki Layne in KHIRY using ethically and sustainably sourced natural diamonds from Botswana at the 2021 Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit on Monday, September 13th in New York City.

WHAT & WHY:
De Beers Group has a long-term, multi-layered commitment to creating a positive lasting impact that will endure well beyond the discovery of its last diamond.

With #BlackIsBrilliant, De Beers Group provides a platform for Black designers – with an emphasis on the red carpet as a powerful forum for communication and visibility – to create one-of-a-kind pieces with natural diamonds from Botswana.

De Beers Group teamed with RAD (Red carpet Advocacy), taking RAD's established, purpose-driven approach of pairing talent and brands to use their platforms in advocating for causes at global events as a way to promote social progress and positive shifts in culture.

ABOUT 'BLACK IS BRILLIANT'
#BlackisBrilliant brings together exceptional Black designers with top stylists to collaboratively create jewelry, exclusively featuring ethically and sustainably sourced diamonds from Botswana provided by De Beers Group. The custom creations will debut on the world's most esteemed Red Carpets, giving the designers deserved visibility and showcasing the Power of Black Designers while also creating IMPACT through donations made by De Beers Group to charities that further Black Excellence. The story of each collaboration will debut on social media as further advocacy for each designer in sharing their personal stories and journeys, heritage and inspirations with the world.

Kiki has chosen Guiding Light Mentoring and Definition Theatre Company as the charities who will benefit from this campaign's philanthropic impact through donations made by De Beers Group. Guiding Light Mentoring is a mentoring program dedicated to serving youth ages 8-18 in the Greater Cincinnati area by providing positive role models, teaching relationship skills, and developing moral character. The organization provides 1:1 community-based mentorship, a leadership summer program, tutoring, and annual youth summits. Definition Theatre Company is a culturally diverse theater dedicated to telling language-driven, relationship-oriented, socially-relevant stories about and created with underrepresented communities in Chicago. They use storytelling as an agent of change to continue pushing and breaking boundaries.

JEWELRY DESCRIPTION:
For De Beers Group x RAD's Black is Brilliant program, KHIRY designer Jameel Mohammed created a suite of jewelry entitled Black Power International. Incorporating a range of precious metals paired brilliantly with natural diamonds ethically and sustainably sourced from Botswana, the capsule collection features Black Power fist silhouettes and KHIRY's signature Khartoum silhouette in globe-shaped earrings and stacking rings, a celebration of the broader diasporic impact reframing design, styling, and sourcing that brought the pieces to life.

"The Black Power International name came from my recognition that what undergirded the possibility for this collection was a legacy of contribution from Black folks worldwide, including me, Wayman and Micah, Kiki Layne and the Botswanans who produced the fabulous diamonds. It's a beacon to the broader diaspora and world that there is power in our shared histories and huge possibilities in our future collaboration." - Jameel Mohammed

ABOUT JAMEEL MOHAMMED:
Jameel Mohammed is an artist and designer born and raised in Chicago, IL. He founded KHIRY in 2016 as an undergraduate studying political science at the University of Pennsylvania, after being told that true luxury brands could only emerge from Paris and Milan. KHIRY was established to subvert the conventions of luxury, employing the sector's emphasis on rarified design, precise craftsmanship, transportative image-making, fine materials, and seductive narrative to make pointed statements about the value of Black life and culture.

ABOUT KHIRY:
KHIRY is an Afrofuturist luxury brand. Founded by designer Jameel Mohammed in 2016, KHIRY employs the conventions of luxury fashion to make pointed statements about the value of Black life and culture. KHIRY's polished and sculptural jewelry embodies the strength, beauty, power, and romance of the African diaspora.

SOURCE De Beers Group