As this year swiftly comes to an end, there's no doubt that we are all deserving of an escape to a destination far away from the confinements of our homes. As I've been laying low since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I began to feel a severe case of cabin fever and yearned for a major dose of rest and rejuvenation.
Lazily laying poolside during the day leading to a night of dressing up in my evening's best for dinnertime soirees, a weekend in Palms Springs was the picture-perfect destination. Although I've vacationed in this desert hot spot several times before, I wanted this particular trip to be much different. I decided to wear clothing created and designed by Black women as I felt it was necessary to relish in Black excellence in every way possible. As I was honored to wear these Black-owned fashion brands during the entirety of my stay, I felt a sense of pride and confidence as each item was thoughtfully handcrafted and skillfully made for women, by women.
Here are 5 must-have black-owned fashion brands to purchase for your next poolside vacation.
Hanifa Collection
Shahirah Ahmed for xoNecole
Created for limitless women, The Hanifa Collection is complete with timeless pieces including eye-catching designs ranging in women's sizes 0-20. This boldly colored resort wrap skirt is absolutely essential for your next poolside vacation. With luxe hip-hugging ruched fabric, the wrapped design is ultra-flattering to a woman's natural shape, complementing all the right places. Worn as a swim cover-up or as a fully styled ready-to-wear ensemble, as I chose to do on this particular night, I felt sexy, classy, and confident in this summer-inspired nighttime ensemble.
Jesse Queen
Shahirah Ahmed for xoNecole
The Jesse Queen Collection offers stylish designs for tall women to dress because of their height, not in spite of it, with class and confidence. This super chic net tie-dye dress is all I've ever dreamt of in a swimwear cover-up and more. With a plunging back and perfect swirl of colors, I can attest to feeling sexy and poised when worn over my two-piece Riot Swim bikini.
Burgundy Bay
Shahirah Ahmed for xoNecole
Burgundy Bay is a collection of ready-to-wear clothing and accessories with a range of styles to fit the fashion-forward woman. This ruffle crop top was a great addition to this trip due to the cool and lightweight fabric ideal for the extremely warm weather. I paired this top with these chocolate-colored Riot Swim bikini bottoms along with my straw bucket hat and tortoiseshell sunnies for a bit of fashion flair while prancing around the pool.
Smash Shoes
Shahirah Ahmed for xoNecole
As a woman standing at 5'10'' and wearing size 12 shoes, footwear companies with a wide range of attractive styles in larger sizes are almost impossible to come by. Smash Shoes offers on-trend styles ranging in women's sizes 10-14, so of course, I had to bring these square toe mules along for the weekend's festivities. Super comfortable due to the elastic band hugging my foot in place along with its single-toe feature makes this blazing neon orange block heel a true gem.
Riot Swim
Shahirah Ahmed for xoNecole
Riot Swim is an ultra-luxe swimwear brand constructed with high-cut silhouettes complimenting a woman's natural shape no matter her size. With boldly pigmented and super soft fabric, this brand offers styles not only fitting for the pool but also doubling as pieces paired with everyday outfits. As I usually struggle with finding perfectly-fitting bathing suits, this is the best one-piece I have ever worn.
Featured image by Shahirah Ahmed.
- What to Pack for Your Next Summer Getaway | Wantable Blog ›
- End-of-Summer Getaways (Plus, What to Pack) | Goop ›
- 20 Things You Need to Pack For Summer Vacation This Year ... ›
- Summer Getaways: What To Pack And What To Wear ›
- Summer Packing Tips: What to Bring on your Summer Getaway ›
- What to Pack for a Summer Getaway - The Scout Guide ›
- Packing Tips for Summer Getaways - What to Pack for Summer Travel ›
- How to Pack for a Summer Getaway ›
- The Ultimate Summer Vacation Packing List | Hilton Grand Vacations ›
RELATED
Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak
