It’s gala season, and we’re kicking off the year with the Fifteen Percent Pledge, a nonprofit that calls upon major retailers and corporations to dedicate at least 15% of space on their shelves to Black-owned businesses. It tends to be a jubilant, glamorous, and fashion-forward event—last night’s fourth edition was no different, with Kelly Rowland, Keke Palmer, and Teyana Taylor among attendees dressed to the nines (or fifteens!).
The event, which is held at the beginning of Black History Month, kept to its Black designer and black tie dress code once again. Within that, a key theme of the evening’s attire was going bold and showing some skin, whether in sheer looks, or with a total lack of fabric. Kim Kardashian was on theme of course. She wore a high neck black leather gown with perforated chainmail panelling that reached down to the thighs, and across the lumbar spine-skimming back. She toted a tiny matching chainmail bag and wore towering black stilettos. The monochromatic and textured look is of course by a Kim Kardashian, fave: It’s custom Balmain by Olivier Rousteing.
The Skims founder wore her dark hair in a short, slicked down and flicked out bob, with a deep side part. Her sharp nails were burgundy.
For a glam evening, Kim tends to favor the open back dress, whether a leather Chrome Hearts custom with a plunging back and front for the CFDAs or a Cher-esque Versace frock that’s more cut-outs than anything else.
Kardashian’s Skims co-founder Emma Grede (who is also behind Khloe’s Good American and Kylie Jenner’s KHY) was one of the evening’s hosts, alongside Fifteen Percent Pledge founder Aurora James, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Brandon Blackwood.
Kardashian’s seatmate for the dinner was Kelly Rowland, who wore an acid yellow hooded gown with a silver clasp and a plunging chest cut-out, while Teyana Taylor wore a full LaQuan Smith suit with a spotted sheer open blouse. Keke Palmer donned a Sergio Hudson pale blue silk shirt dress with a fitted skirt and Western belt. The trio made it a fabulous evening for celebrating Black designers and founders.
