The semiannual New York Fashion Week, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, will descend on New York City's Lincoln Center this Thursday, bringing with it shows from big-name designers such as Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan and Tracy Reese.
No doubt the shows will be awash with bloggers intent on flooding your news streams with posts about everything from trends to events to celebrity sightings. Although New York Fashion Week typically feels like a mostly white affair, fear not: Black fashion bloggers won't miss the party. Several style aces will be on the scene to document the happenings with their own lenses. Check our list of black fashion bloggers who should be on your radar during Fashion Week and beyond.
After making their debut in the New York Times last summer, Joshua Kissi and Travis Gumbs of Street Etiquette have cemented their place among the black fashion-blogosphere elite. The duo captures emerging trends in black men's fashion, mostly with images and commentary on remixes of vintage style.
Check out Claire Sulmers' urban fashion digest for daily updates on celebrity style, street style and glamorous looks for less. Sulmers created Fashion Bomb Daily to highlight the stylish fashion contributions of women of color, including those of her devoted fans. A popular feature of her site is "Fashion Bombshell of the Day," which puts the hottest readers' looks on display.
There is no shortage of young, hip, plus-size bloggers, but LoveBrownSugar creator Christina Brown's credentials allow her to take readers on a glitzier journey. As an online editor at Uptown magazine and a frequent contributor to other glossies like Vibe and Essence, Brown sprinkles her blog with images of red-carpet appearances, celebrity sightings and commentary about her own wardrobe choices.
Rae Holliday and Gabriel Williams, the creators of this award-winning blog, have occupied the coveted front-row seats at Fashion Week shows in years past. Their blog, a mashup of fashion, music, dance and event coverage, features everything from snarky social commentary to new music recommendations to biting critiques of celebrity fashion fails.
Karen Blanchard is a London transplant with her heart set on New York's vintage shop scene. Obsessed with what she calls New York City's "hidden treasures," on her blog Blanchard documents all that she finds, and shares it with her fans on both sides of the Atlantic. "Now that I've experienced both sides of that big pond, I've often been asked where did I get what I'm wearing so I figured I'd start a blog about it since I'm now a mishmash of both cities," she writes.
African textile influences have become less of a trend and more of a staple in mainstream fashion, and Zandile Blay's Africa Style Daily chronicles it all. This year, Blay will be on hand giving a firsthand account of a day in the life of African model Tolula Adeyemi at New York Fashion Week for the site's first-ever editorial shoot.
Mariane Kihogo has quite the résumé. She was singled out by Dolce & Gabbana for its Dress Me Up Tour, where, as a guest blogger, she was commissioned to style a window display at a D&G boutique. She was also listed in the New York Post's "Best at Show" for New York Fashion Week last year. Kihogo dedicates her blog to catwalk trends, shopping, art and music, interviews and, of course, her own eccentric personal style.
Akoto Ofori-Atta is The Root's assistant editor. Follow her on Twitter.
If you want to see what's hot on black Twitter, check out The Chatterati.Akoto Ofori-Atta is the editor of The Grapevine. Like her Facebook page and follow her on Twitter.