Black Fashion Week MN returns to showcase the work of Black Minneapolis designers from May 3 to May 11.

The event started in 2017, striving to platform talented creatives in the Twin Cities fashion industry, according to their Instagram page.

“The purpose of it was to have a platform for people of color to express their creative side,” said Black Fashion Week founder Natalie Morrow.

Morrow said the organization has grown a lot since 2017.

“We started off with 150 people, and we’re up to over 10,000 people who follow us. And we’ve done some big things,” Morrow said. “We were the only organization to ever do a fashion show at Paisley Park, so we’ve done that, and I created a Met Gala for Minnesota.”

Black Fashion Week’s Minnesota Met Gala boasts an encouraging tagline for designers and models: “Be iconic.”

“It was designed behind the New York Met Gala, but from Minnesota, so it’s a little bit different,” Morrow said. “It is a space for those that are very talented, and they’ve done everything they can to get to that mark of the best status.”

Natoya Doulatt, a Minneapolis fashion designer from Jamaica, has been designing women’s clothing for over 20 years. Doulatt is one of the designers whose work will be showcased in Black Fashion Week’s Minnesota Met Gala on May 11 at the American Swedish Institute.

“Based on the events that we’re having, being that this is the Met, I want to do something that is more avant-garde,” Doulatt said. “The idea of making something that will definitely leave a mark or leave something that you will remember.”

Morrow described what compelled her to Doulatt’s work and inspired her to include Doulatt in the fashion show.

“She’s really into dresses that are like evening dresses but super dynamic,” Morrow said. “She started off as a volunteer and then told me that she’s a designer. Then I looked at her stuff – I was just floored. She’s really, really good.”

Happening a couple of days before the Minnesota Met Gala is the Brown Girl Magic Fashion Show hosted at the Neu Neu in Minneapolis on May 9.

Dominique Johnson, a freshman admissions counselor for the College of Design who started modeling six months ago, will be walking in the Brown Girl Magic Fashion Show on May 9.

Johnson said that Black Fashion Week is a good way for entry-level models to get their feet wet in the industry.

“I think it’s really uplifting,” Johnson said. “I see a lot of different designers and different shows like working together, designers working together and event organizers, and they always just pull off something so amazing.”

Johnson added that Black Fashion Week is a positive platform for highlighting Black designers in Minneapolis

“It’s a really amazing opportunity for Black culture to be celebrated,” Johnson said. “It’s really innovative. I’m happy that we have a vibrant design community within Minneapolis.”