SAN ANTONIO – Mia Williams said she couldn’t be happier sharing her designs at the first annual Black Excellence Hair Showcase on the South Side.
“Hair is everything,” Williams said. “It just brings this butterfly feeling to my heart every single time I touch someone’s crown.”
The showcase gave a platform for stylists to show off dozens of hair designs to hundreds of people. This is the first Black History Month where Texas has a CROWN Act. Just this week, that law was tested outside of Houston. Stylists in San Antonio said they’re using this ruling and the CROWN Act at large to celebrate freedom and expression of Black hair.
“This is just the creative side of it,” Tenesha Wilson, the showcase organizer, said. “It gives us a space to go ahead and take pride in who we are.”
Wilson’s theme for her own designs was Black History Month. She said showing modern work is just as important as sharing history.
“This is not even half of it,” Wilson said. “I feel like a lot of people don’t know the story behind braids and like how things were transported in braids.”
Williams’ theme was Black hair throughout history.
“My thing is Black excellence for decades,” Williams said. “So basically showing the fashion changes over time through hair and as well as through fashion.”
Showing the hairstyles and fashion was the event’s main focus on Saturday night, but the showcase also featured youth dancers and small businesses.
“I just absolutely love it,” Williams said. “It’s just good to be able to show us in a very good light and see our community come together.”
To read more about Texas’ version of the CROWN Act, click here.