dark skin and bright colors poppin’

The realization that Black women command every color on the spectrum is a fashion epiphany that has us LIVING! Akou Diabakhate is a Senegalese model, an artist, and the second runner-up at Miss Africa USA 2017-2018, who collaborated with photographer Ally Schmaling to create the photo series, “POP.” The series is a celebration of our cultural shift towards dark-skinned woman wearing more “pops” of color and not shying away from embracing bright colors when adorning their bodies.

“As a dark-skinned model, I used believed that “pop colors” or bright colors do not look good on my type of skin. Dark-skinned models are afraid of even playing around with bright colors. We just want to tell you that you’re beautiful in any color you wear because black is a universal color.” – Akou Diabakhate

Model: @akousalsera_official
Photographer: @allyschmaling
Make-up: @kirbie_fully_loaded