“Black women are the definition of essential,” reads a line of text on an official campaign ad of designer Melody Ehsani’s latest capsule collection. Alone, the sentence sounds like a compliment, but the phrases following it reveal it to be a special kind of burden. “Black women save your life time and time again. Black women shouldn’t only be valuable to you when they’re providing a service, that sounds like slavery to me. It is not our job to save the world,” the wall of text continues. All truths and yet, still today, the world takes freely from black women without giving anything in return. Time and time again, society places the onus of strength and resiliency on black women, all while snatching away their sense of safety and creative properties.

In partnership with Studio Museum Harlem, a New York art institution dedicated to representing black artists and their craft, Ehsani’s “A Love Letter to Our Faves” apparel collection honors black women whose work has shaped the world; women whose craft has influenced culture time and time again, women who were the blueprint for those that followed them. With this collection, figures of black womanhood are celebrated not for what they provided the world with, or what kind of service they fulfilled for the culture, but rather for who they are at their core: incredible black women.

The limited edition Melody Ehsani x Studio Store “A Love Letter to Our Faves” capsule collection features original artwork from Brooklyn-born creative Aya Brown. The drop includes a plain unisex tee, a brown corduroy-collared cotton workman’s jacket, and brown utility pants. Portraits of iconic black women, including visionaries Lauryn Hill, Grace Jones, Cicley Tyson, Sha’Carri Richardson, Missy Elliott, and Chaka Khan, grace each individual piece. Hand-drawn inspirational messages like “excellent,” “black woman ova everything,” and “powerful woman” surround the portraits. All proceeds from the collection directly benefitted Studio Museum Harlem and Brown.

Check out official images of the collection down below.

Where can I buy the Melody Ehsani x Studio Store “A Love Letter to Our Faves” collection?

Unfortunately for us, this collection sold out almost immediately on the Studio Store site; while there’s a few scraggler sizes left behind for the pants, the jackets and shirts have been swiped up.

That being said, we took a peek around the Studio Store online shop, and trust us when we say you’ll want to hit their site before the holidays. Click the link below to shop jewelry, bags, apparel, art prints, and more.

In case you missed it, check out the Kith’s winter collection…