With our nation’s future (save for Adele’s Grammy speech) looking fairly bleak many designers were looking to make a strong statement this season. While Public School chose to appropriate the trucker hat and Christian Siriano once again caped for curves Malcolm Diggs, inspired by Solange, picked triumphant charm as his Trojan Horse.

Diggs approached this season with a streamlined point of view mixing gilded robes and embellished dresses with his signature mesh. Standouts in the collection included an off the shoulder zip dress, and a sequined tea length emerald dress with a bell sleeve. “I wanted to use deep colors. Mahogany represents dark, beautiful, rich. I think the green stands out very well on dark skin."

His inspiration for his fall collection Malcolm looked to the eternal strength of the iconic Tracy Chambers. “I was really inspired by Diana Ross in the seventies” said the designer “that’s why I wanted to use all black models to represent her being a strong black woman.”

His commitment to supporting other people of color extends beyond his creativity. He works exclusively with HEIR PR’s Sherrod Lewis to manage and expand his growing brand. As an independent designer Diggs is less about pomp than performance. Stylists, bloggers and editors of color milled around his presentation thoughtful praising the construction of the clothing rather than preening for one another.

Attendees included celebrity hair stylist and beauty entrepreneur Tiffany Lamb, FashionBombDaily’s Marsha Badger, editorial stylist Dash Armstong, Trendy Male’s Rushane Thelwell and the founder of Newark's Urban Girl Magazine.

The gift bag partners included Lamb’s Lucid Bliss hair care line, Pin Up Cosmetics, and fanciful loose pigment provider Cake Your Face.

Diggs spoke passionately about his need to use his sophomore season to highlight models and entrepernuers of color “I want to put them on the platform that I’m building with my fashion. It’s a really scary time right now and everyone has to stick together.”