Phenomenal, the social impact business founded by lawyer Meena Harris, has partnered with Bephies Beauty Supply — the beauty and fashion platform highlighting brands founded by women of color — to release a limited-edition T-shirt.
The launch celebrates CROWN Day, July 3, as declared by The CROWN Coalition. A collaboration between Dove and organizations National Urban League, Color of Change and Western Center on Law & Poverty, the group has worked to pass The CROWN Act — which stands for “create a respectful and open world for natural hair” — a law that “prohibits race-based hair discrimination” in the workplace and schools because of hair texture or styles. It was introduced in California in January 2019 and is law in 13 states.
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“At Phenomenal, we’re so passionate about untangling hair bias that we’re celebrating CROWN Day all month,” Harris said in an exclusive statement. “And I do mean celebrating — because there is power in wearing natural and textured hair proudly, unapologetically. And that’s what our collaboration with Bephies Beauty Supply is all about: putting these symbols of pride and power in everyone’s hands.”
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For her part, Bephies Beauty Supply founder Beth Birkett told WWD: “Your hair is your crown. For centuries Black communities around the world have created hairstyles that are uniquely their own — from box braids to Bantu knots and Afro shape ups. These iconic Black hairstyles nod to status and are symbols of feminine power. With this collaboration, we feature Black hair iconography representing royalty and encourage everyone to own their own crown.”
The T-shirt, retailing for $110, is available today for preorder on Phenomenalwoman.us and Nordstrom. Phenomenal has partnered with vegan hair care brand Sienna Naturals, owned by actress, writer and producer Issa Rae and Hannah Diop, to launch a conversation series on the subject and with production company Hayden5 for a campaign video, directed by JJ Anderson.
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