New York-based designer Chris Habana of Chrishabana joins forces with stylist Shannon Stokes on a capsule collection of jewelry created for a Paper editorial themed on the joining of Asian and African cultures. Jewelry offerings are highlighted by a elaborate fringe hair comb composed of cowrie shells.
The editorial features models Ebonee Davis and Juan Paolo Roldan, who were photographed by Micaiah Carter with beauty handled by Tyron MachHause
On Instagram, Stokes explained his thinking for “The Marriage” editorial, writing, “A new modern way to look at wedding. With this shoot I wanted to accomplish a couple things 1. Black women are seldom shown in fashion editorials as a love interest so I wanted to show that in a beautiful way and 2. Show interracial relationships other than the usual pairings that are often depicted.”
Commenting on the cowrie shell comb, Stokes explained, “From my initial drawings I knew that I wanted to make a new version of the Kanzashi (geisha comb) by blending the elements with familiar symbols and shapes in African Culture.”
Side note: The arrival of this editorial has a serendipitous element to in that it foreshadowed a small hubbub created today (April 30, 2018) over freshly-scrutinized passages from Iss Rae’s book Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl in which she suggested black women and Asian men date each other because they’re both at the bottom of the dating totem pole.
Check out the looks via Paper below.
