When model and hair artist Kayra Theodore walked into her sixth-grade class with bows in her hair, she became the victim of bullying.
"I was the only Black kid in the class and all the kids made fun of my hair," she told Fashionista. "They'd say, 'You look like a child,' and 'You look like a dinosaur.' That made me reject my Haitian culture, because [bows] are very prevalent in Haiti. Bows in Haiti represent neatness, order and rules."
So it was only fitting that, for her first hair show, the creative showcased her journey of accepting her hair and embracing her culture. Held at a spacious venue in Brooklyn, the show was fully backed by Meta's Instagram Drafts initiative, which provides financial and creative support to selected emerging creators.
"With my expression of hair, it means freedom," she told Fashionista in a backstage interview. "I thought it was really important to reclaim what those students made me feel ashamed of and to also show my own interpretation of what bows symbolize to me. I'm untying all the trauma and shame and expectations."
Titled "Untied," the show explores different interpretations of bows. The presentation began with a little girl dressed in a school uniform walking in and taking a seat at a desk set in the middle of the room. "In the beginning, there's a little girl, who is my younger self before I go on this creative endeavor, and I'm just imagining," Theodore explained.
As the show went on, each hair look was progressively grander than the last. "It starts to build up," she explained. "I'm getting more creative and free. It's from structure to freeing. My sketches and ideas are getting broader and grander." Then came the finale look: a bridal veil of hair, fully flowing with no structure, symbolizing Theodore fully being herself in the world.
Photo: Alizayuh Vigil
She hopes that "Untied" encourages people to freely and unapologetically exist as themselves. "I hope that people can be inspired to let go of anything," she said. "Let go of all those expectations and just fully lean into who you are without anyone's idea of how you should be."
See every look from "Untied" below.
* This article was originally published here