(contemplative synth music) - [Elisha] I personally love the deterioration, I like to call it the erosion of all the buildings in here like that's why I call it an industrial wasteland because nothing is really repaired.

When you're looking at that like there's such beauty in grace and comfort in knowing that things are getting eroded like they're returning to their natural state like from dust to dust.

I've seen that in a lot of like African American work in the fashion industry in Bridgeport.

There's really no limits to what you can do with a sewing machine at all.

(Upbeat synth music) (cars driving) - My name's Elisha Brockenberry.

I'm from Bridgeport, Connecticut, I was born here, raised here.

My grandmother, she wasn't a seamstress but she would make all my clothes when I was a kid.

I like to be very grassroots, I like to be making everything with my bare hands.

(cheery synth music) I started a brand around the time I was like 14, it was called Beware Bridgeport and the signature was like a screaming face with like these rays around it and I printed so many of those shirts and would just sell them.

(cars driving) - Yeah!

Yes ma'am!

(cheering) My name is Chasity Aniece Kennedy.

I'm from Bridgeport, Connecticut, born and raised.

I'm a Creative Director, model, photographer, all that type of stuff.

(laughs) I started gaining interest in fashion in high school, my senior year.

But then I decided "Hey, instead of modeling, I wanna actually put on my own show."

So, it sparked Chasity's Productions.

In August 2019 I launched my first show ever and I also launched my cosmetics business the same day.

Yeah, so it was a huge accomplishment for me.

(laughs) But yeah show your personality however you want Bridgeport is filled with a lot of other people that are like me, that create art, beautiful art too.

(cars driving) (car honks) - My name is J'Nai Richardson, I'm from Bridgeport, Connecticut.

I'm a model.

The way I got into fashion is actually kind of funny.

So back in 2019 I was a makeup artist, I had my own business called Glammed Out Kelis.

I had saw an opportunity from Chasity's lash business, her eyelash business and she was looking for ambassadors.

So, you know, over time I started to shift my gears into wanting to be in front of the camera and turn it into a more personable experience for me.

It's a beautiful experience being in the fashion industry, so many moving parts, so many big, creative minds, but being from Bridgeport does unfortunately come with that side eye.

- [Newscaster 1] Bridgeport police releasing this body cam footage of an arrest they made yesterday.

- [Witness] Get off him!

You're choking him!

- [Newscaster 2] Defunding the police completely - [Newscaster 3] Percentage of children here in Bridgeport living in poverty- It's a really, really big population of black and brown people and when you look on the news and you look at Bridgeport: violence.

That's what a lot of people attach to Bridgeport to and minimize Brideport to.

(police siren blares) But there's so much more to Bridgeport than what your friend might have told you who lives miles and miles away and probably never been to Bridgeport in her life.

If you just really take the time to understand and pay attention, there's so much beauty in Bridgeport, there's so much talent.

(energetic synth music) - Cut, cut, up, and then you cut back.

We're preparing for Motherland fashion show, Life in Color 2023, this is my third annual Black History Month event so I'm very excited.

(laughs) So right now we are rehearsing for the show, we're rehearsing a various amount of different formations, it requires different types of cuts, different techniques and different poses.

Walking up, cutting up top.

Walking straight back.

So Motherland was the first time I ever had a team.

I really feel like everything that we practice beforehand, that's like the chaos.

Make sure you cut.

Okay wait let's do it again, so there was a little mishap there.

That's it for now.

Don't worry about the poses for now.

Because I'm just trying to see something.

So when I say chaotic I don't mean it in a negative way.

Okay let's do this again.

A lot of the models are beginners, this is their first show.

So, if you've ever seen my show, you'll see like there's intricate formations, well I am directing the models, we're just going over everything we practiced.

One, Two!

- [J'Nai] Modeling is a lot more technical than people would expect but it's very technical down to posing, it's very technical to walking, the way Chasity likes to phrase it is you're a human hanger for the designer.

- You're literally you're adorning someone like you're not capturing their essence but you're acknowledging their essence by adorning them with what you visualize.

- [J'Nai] You're conveying a message, you're supporting somebody's vision.

This is something that someone created with their own two hands like it's a lot of care, it's a lot of love that goes into it, so like you're a moving part in helping their vision come to life.

- That's my intention when it comes down to it, the making garmentry, making artwork, anything like that, it's to let you feel fulfilled, you can feel that I put something into it for you.

(tense music) - Show day is always like an out of body experience and then I go backstage and everybody's like "AAAA!"

'cause we're all just really like anxious to put on a really great production.

(energetic synth music) - [Chasity] I really want every show to have a message and I really want every show to mean something.

So, the message I wanted everyone to take away from Motherland, I wanna bring light to how Africa has inspired today's fashion.

- Motherland was definitely like a very fun experience like the live drumming while we were modeling.

(drums beating) - It was so jampacked with everything (laughs) and like we got it done and it was just amazing.

(energetic synth music) - Fashion to me is all about expression, I view myself as the art, so that to me is precious, that's something that needs to be seen, something that needs to be, y'know, catered to.

I think what fashion means to Bridgeport is just giving us another layer.

Because when people think of Bridgeport so many things come to mind but this is something else that's good and that's what I'm proud of.

(group cheering) - I believe we'll continue to grow by just continuing to create and put our work out there.

- There's so much to come in regards to the fashion scene, in regards to Bridgeport.

Do not sleep on us.

- That's the thing about here like you really gotta forge the hell out of your own path.

It's hard to have faith in a deteriorating community but you do have to.

Just have to.

(energetic synth music)