
Meet The Black Woman Who Styled Serena Williams And Daughter, Olympia's First Fashion Campaign Together

Gabriella Karefa-Johnson has had a very interesting few months for her career. In December, she became the first Black woman to style a Vogue cover for model Paloma Elsesser. The very first black woman. In 2020 and 2021. But I digress.
Additionally, barely a month later, her next assignment just so happened to be the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, for her first Vogue cover. And then one month after that, she styled Gigi Hadid's first solo Vogue cover. Oh, and she also styled the March Vanity Fair cover (featuring Billie Eilish). In the middle of it all, she managed to be tapped to style and star in Converse's spring 2021 look book.
So basically, sis is bookedT and busy, and her resume can go toe-to-toe with any of your faves. She's somehow flown under the radar as a boss of the fashion game, but in one of her most recent projects, her name is ringing bells.
In the cutest campaign you'll see today, Karefa-Johnson takes on the GOAT and GOAT Jr. for Stuart Weitzman's Spring 2021 Collection. The tennis star, who has worked with Karefa-Johnson for Stuart Weitzman before, poses alongside her daughter Alexis "Olympia" Ohanian Jr., age 3, who is shown wearing some of the brand's new styles that have us feenin' off the baby fever. It is the first fashion campaign that the mother-daughter duo has been featured in together.
Of the campaign, Williams says:
"It's a special campaign. I just felt like it was an opportunity because Olympia and I have been spending so much time together. Olympia is trying on my shoes all the time, it's so fun!"
But whether Serena Williams, or Zendaya, or the Vice President of the United States, GKJ (as she refers to herself), says through the whirlwind of her career, and the chaos of all her high-profiled projects, has been something she was ready for. On working with Vogue as the first black stylist, she tells The Cut:
"It really felt like a testament to how hard I've worked to get to where I am. It was an incredible honor, but it wasn't the greatest shock in the world. I'd worked for it, and I deserved it. I hesitate saying that, because I think it can sound hubristic, but it should be interpreted as somebody who set goals and worked really hard and who wasn't sure that they would come true. But when they did, it felt like it was the right time and the right opportunity. And I think that's why that cover was as successful as it was, because I was ready for it."
Her Instagram is filled with colorful, exuberant images of high-fashion nods to the industry, and comedic captions that show off her personality. Erykah Badu, Melina Matsoukas, and Lindsay Peoples Wagner (former Editor-in-Chief of Teen Vogue, also a black woman), are all flaunted throughout, as she’s basically screaming, 'I'm not new to any of this shit' as loud as possible.
Her start in the industry began when she realized her dream of "being a Spice Girl wasn't going to work out."
"I realized that maybe I don't have a good singing voice and maybe I don't actually care about music, I just liked the glam of it."
Instead, she learned by watching her grandmother and her aunt (a former model), and religiously reading Style.com and Teen Vogue. It opened her eyes to the world of fashion and clothes. She then took on a slew of internships to kick her way into the door; internships that included Women's Wear Daily and Vogue, telling Fashionista:
"I worked my ass off. I got to go on all of these amazing shoots, and I realized I liked being a fashion editor; it was the best of both worlds. You really have to be analytical, you have to be connecting the clothing to what's happening in the world, there are stories that are told through clothing, but those stories are also reflected in who we are as people, what people want to be buying, and how we translate that to any reader in America — actually, in the world."
And although she is often surrounded by those who may not look like her, she's very aware that, as a plus-size, Black woman, she carries a certain responsibility to be representative of the culture.
"I want people to know that if I'm working, literally anyone else can be working, because there wasn't a Black fashion editor that I'd look to when I was growing up — there was Andre [Leon Talley], who was amazing, but it wasn't a thing. I just want to be working consistently enough and creating pictures that are poignant enough that, to whoever's looking at them who might want to be a fashion editor, knows that it's fully possible."
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Well, sis, that's exactly what you're doing.
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Featured image by Jan Zahradka / Shutterstock.com
Charmin Michelle is a southern native and creative spirit who works as a content marketer and events manager in Chicago. She enjoys traveling, #SummertimeChi, and the journey of mastering womanhood. Connect with her on Instagram @charminmichelle.
Eva Marcille On Starring In 'Jason’s Lyric Live' & Being An Audacious Black Woman
Eva Marcille has taken her talents to the stage. The model-turned-actress is starring in her first play, Jason’s Lyric Live alongside Allen Payne, K. Michelle, Treach, and others.
The play, produced by Je’Caryous Johnson, is an adaptation of the film, which starred Allen Payne as Jason and Jada Pinkett Smith as Lyric. Allen reprised his role as Jason for the play and Eva plays Lyric.
While speaking to xoNecole, Eva shares that she’s a lot like the beloved 1994 character in many ways. “Lyric is so me. She's the odd flower. A flower nonetheless, but definitely not a peony,” she tells us.
“She's not the average flower you see presented, and so she reminds me of myself. I'm a sunflower, beautiful, but different. And what I loved about her character then, and even more so now, is that she was very sure of herself.
"Sure of what she wanted in life and okay to sacrifice her moments right now, to get what she knew she deserved later. And that is me. I'm not an instant gratification kind of a person. I am a long game. I'm not a sprinter, I'm a marathon.
America first fell in love with Eva when she graced our screens on cycle 3 of America’s Next Top Model in 2004, which she emerged as the winner. Since then, she's ventured into different avenues, from acting on various TV series like House of Payne to starring on Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Je-Caryous Johnson Entertainment
Eva praises her castmates and the play’s producer, Je’Caryous for her positive experience. “You know what? Je’Caryous fuels my audacity car daily, ‘cause I consider myself an extremely audacious woman, and I believe in what I know, even if no one else knows it, because God gave it to me. So I know what I know. That is who Je’Caryous is.”
But the mom of three isn’t the only one in the family who enjoys acting. Eva reveals her daughter Marley has also caught the acting bug.
“It is the most adorable thing you can ever see. She’s got a part in her school play. She's in her chorus, and she loves it,” she says. “I don't know if she loves it, because it's like, mommy does it, so maybe I should do it, but there is something about her.”
Overall, Eva hopes that her contribution to the role and the play as a whole serves as motivation for others to reach for the stars.
“I want them to walk out with hope. I want them to re-vision their dreams. Whatever they were. Whatever they are. To re-see them and then have that thing inside of them say, ‘You know what? I'm going to do that. Whatever dream you put on the back burner, go pick it up.
"Whatever dream you've accomplished, make a new dream, but continue to reach for the stars. Continue to reach for what is beyond what people say we can do, especially as [a] Black collective but especially as Black women. When it comes to us and who we are and what we accept and what we're worth, it's not about having seen it before. It's about knowing that I deserve it.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Feature image by Leon Bennett/WireImage
How I Transformed My High-Rise Apartment Into A Grown-Woman Sanctuary
I've been told I have what many might call a "cool apartment."
From my friends to my favorite aunties to my grandmother, who has been a homeowner for more than fifty years, everyone who visits tells me they can tell how much love I put into this place. I'd have to agree; I do. I lived at home until I was almost 30 years old, so when I moved out, I knew my place had to feel like I had arrived in adulthood, and it does.
I live on one of the top floors of a high-rise apartment overlooking my city. Each room in my home was painted with love and intention, a theme of African contemporary rests throughout my aesthetic and decor, and each piece of art has been carefully chosen to showcase various parts of my life and personality. Still, every once in a while, I get a comment from someone when they ask how much I've spent on furniture and decor that goes a little something like, "Girl, for all that, you could have bought a house!"
I could respond by telling them that I was raised by a single mother (who encourages me to live my best luxury-living life) whom I watched firsthand navigate all of the responsibilities of homeownership alone and that between roof replacements, countless water pumps for our flooded basement, and unreliable contractors, homeownership as a single woman isn't something I exactly want to rush into.
I could also tell them that as a woman who desires marriage, I have my whole life to have a home and pour love into it and that what I don't have my whole life to do is live in a high rise and enjoy the luxuries of a maintenance staff, gym, sauna, swimming pool, and hosting area.
I could also say that while this furniture was expensive, it will come with me to the home that I will have someday, whether it finds itself in a main bedroom, guest room, or office. But the truth is that none of that is the answer; the answer is this: I deserve to design the life that I want for myself, and in this moment, that life includes pouring love into my rental.
"I deserve to design the life that I want for myself, and in this moment, that life includes pouring love into my rental."
Courtesy of Yasmine Jameelah
While I didn't have the language for why I needed even my first apartment to feel good, I recently came across this idea called dopamine decor. Recently, researchers have discovered that decorating your home with specific patterns, textures, and colors can be good for your brain. Home living and interior design experts likeArchitectural Digest andBetter Homes and Gardens say, "The dopamine decor trend—like dopamine dressing that came before it—you just need to focus on surrounding yourself with furniture, art, and objects that make you happy."
Take this trend as an opportunity to ask yourself, are there color themes, patterns, textures, or shades that bring you joy?
Dopamine decor is inviting us to be intentional about buying what we love, not just what we see.
Courtesy of Yasmine Jameelah
Suppose you're wondering how this trend will impact your pockets. In that case, dopamine decorating is also said to help us be thorough about purchases, inviting us to be more intentional about how we shop, step away from over-consumption, and buy what we love, not just what we see. That's not to say that trendy pieces can't be what you love; the point is to focus on feeling - not impulse.
Whether you're someone who is into minimalism and needs a home that supports your mental health, or you desire unique pieces in each small corner of your home, you deserve to live in a space that feels good - to you.
So, how can you apply this trend to your rental? Here are some decor decisions that I've used to infuse decor dopamine into my apartment.
1. Colored Glass
Colored glass has had me in a trance since working with my set designer for a project with Puma. I'd never seen taper candle holders made from colored glass, and at the end of the shoot, when we'd begun to decide what we were returning to the stores, I asked her to hold the colored glass items for me because I told her that I'd use them in my new apartment. I was living with my mom and had no apartment at the time, but I was manifesting!
Two years later, from the candles that sit across my bar to my stemware and items on my mantel, colored glass fills my home.
Some of my favorite colored glass products can be found below:
2. Unique Furniture
Black women can relate to growing up and having that relative who had beautiful furniture that you could only look at; well, I wanted to change the narrative. My furniture is beautiful but also functional, and with yearly maintenance and cleaning, it will stay in this shape while I'm in my rental and when I decide on my next chapter.
Shop my favorite unique furniture finds below:
3. Black Art
When I was deciding on my artwork, I knew two things - that I wanted my artwork to be curated by Black artists and that I wanted it to reflect what I wanted to manifest in my life and bodies of work that are of importance to me.
Shop some of my favorite Black art finds:
4. Romantic Taper Candles
This one is for all the lover girlies; I have decided that I'm not waiting for an evening of romance to light taper candles. Every day that I'm living is an opportunity to romanticize my life. Lighting my taper candles reminds me that I deserve romance, and it encourages me to stay present in the beauty that each day can provide, even when I'm not in the best space.
No matter what your aesthetic, I hope this inspires you to be intentional about pouring love into your rental.
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Featured image courtesy of Yasmine Jameelah
Originally published on January 8, 2024