Akua Shabaka ☥

We are SO thrilled and honored to announce that House of Aama, mother-daughter design duo, Akua Shabaka and Rebecca Henry are grant recipients and chosen finalist of the 2021 CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund. I remember being a kid watching the series on TV with some of my favorite designers and now we’re here! Always believe in yourself, stay truee. Proud asf of us! Asé ooo! We are so thankful for @cfda and @voguemagazine for their selection and support. Most importantly, we are so thankful for all of YOU, who have supported our storytelling, folk research and designs throughout the years. We are excited to enter this mentorship program with amazing and inspiring designers. The House of Aama legacy brand is on a mission to grow our narrative and expand our mission. So thankful to be supported by such esteemed industry experts and judges who genuinely support us. And so it is! 🕯🌹🕯#cvff #cfda

WOW! Our First Cover Story! Featuring the beautiful and striking songstress Chlöe Bailey for Allure Magazine June/July Issue. Wearing @houseofaama La Siréne Bodycon Maxi Dress from Collection SALT WATER SS22 in our signature print. 🧜🏾‍♀️🌊✨ THANK YOU to everyone that made this happen. It’s an honor to see a beautiful black women living her truth and commanding her space while wearing House of Aama’s maxi dress inspired by the sea goddess La Siréne. This collection is so special to me, was so much work, made all these textiles (Lol). I could speak a mouthful of how full circle this moment is and the serendipities but truly I’m just so proud my mother and I keep believing and keep trusting our ancestors every step of the way. So many black girls will come after me with similar dreams; discourage and dismayed but I want to tell them that they can and we are paving the way so the generation after will have the support and resources to make their mark! Ase 🙏🏿 La Siréne Mesh Tulle Bodycon Maxi Dress available at houseofaama.com _ Melanin Edit w/ guest editor @michaelaangelad Writer @joanmorgan Photographer: Micaiah Carter @micaiahcarter Stylist: Corey T. Stokes @coreytstokes Hair: Larry Sims @larryjarahsims Makeup: Samuel Paul @samuelpaulartist Manicure: Yoko Sakakura @nails_by_yoko Set Design: Lauren Machen @machenmachen Production: JN Production @jnproductionglobal

Wow! Me, Akua Shabaka as cofounder of @houseofaama for Forbes 30 under 30!! 🥳 What a pleasant surprise (I cried). I told myself last year I would be on this list and so it is. I’m just so thankful for my ancestors, my community and most importantly business partner and mother, Rebecca Henry. For believing in a vision and ambition I had for myself at 15 in 10th grade, I’ve been running Aama (in its many forms) almost 10 years! As much as I always say this is only the beginning, I’m acknowledging how far I’ve come. This year has been a collection of amazing celebratory moments and immensely hard tragedies. But a constant remains, my believe in myself, my vision and black storytelling. This is a light and a source of power I come back to continuously. Many times over, I’ve felt unsupported or unseen but that light, that feeling, the manifestation keeps me going. I know my Poppa is up above queuing a flute and African drum salute of joy in my honor. Asé ooo 🙏🏿🕯 Lastly, here at @houseofaama were much more than tshirts, totes and hoodies (I’m going to have to contact Forbes hehe). Just look at SS22 Salt Water. “House of Aama explores the folkways of the black experience by designing timeless garments with nostalgic references informed by historical research, archival analysis, and storytelling. We aim to evoke dialogue, social commentary and conversations around heritage, remembrance and to shed light on nuanced histories.” 💙 #forbes30under30

“The nation of California 🌴” Had the best time getting ready with new @houseofaama for @patternbeauty and @josiehair at Coachella.(This lace set is my favvv). 🎡🏕️ Catching the Xx unlocked a core memory of my indie alt teenager years, you had to be there. Weere you there? #coachella #sessions

Happiest Mother’s Day to my mother, Rebecca. You have gifted me the courage and support to trust myself in all explorations, seeks and ventures. My teammate. Some know you as Becca, others know you as cofounder of @houseofaama , I know you as mommy. I’m beyond blessed to be anchored with such an anointed maternal line. I give thanks to mothers, their mothers, their mothers and their mothers. I know Faye, my grandma, your mom is watching over us…with her quilts, wit and scrapbooks. Ase. Brb, super late. We in countryside of Jamaica ooo. 👩🏽‍💻🎣🇯🇲✨

Q1 felt like a blur. Deep transitions. Some years are questions and some are answers. Keep looking. 🫂🌅✨ (feeling out my shell now though) #dump

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Aama Studio: Threads of Legacy Film Salon at @LACMA last weekend. 🤍🎞️ We gathered to watch a powerful slate of short films, share thoughtful conversation lead by @mayasymonecade , and experience a private tour of Tavares Strachan’s exhibit lead by LACMA’s Curator of Contemporary Art, Diana Nawi. This day was an inspiring reminder of the stories we carry and the legacies we shape. This film salon was curated as a passage, an intentional movement through time, memory, and possibility. Beginning at the edge of the future and tracing its way through remembrance, rupture, and restoration, each work is placed in conversation with the next to consider how knowledge is carried, how histories are felt, and how we return to ourselves amid uncertainty. In dialogue with @tavaresstrachan ’s The Day Tomorrow Began, the program invited us to sit with what is seen and unseen, asking not only how we remember, but how we move forward. Aama Studio is a creative incubator dedicated to storytelling, cultural exploration, and community. Emerging from the world of House of Aama, the studio functions as a site of research and artistic inquiry-engaging narrative, material, and collaboration to examine the histories and ideas that inform the practice. Grateful for this community and the space to reflect, connect, and reimagine together. Thank you @lacma for hosting such an intentional program. Endless thanks to the curators of this program @houseofaama @mataazii @jamalademola 🤍 Stay tuned for more Aama Studio moments ✨ #houseofaama #aamastudio

Aama Studio presents Threads of Legacy Film Salon, taking place at @lacma this weekend. 🎞️ Drawing from @tavaresstrachan ’s immersive exhibition The Day Tomorrow Began, we welcome you to the Aama Studio: Threads of Legacy Film Salon on March 21. This program features a tour of Strachan’s exhibition, short films selected by Aama Studio, and discussions exploring Black liberation, arcs of migration, and evolving identities, linking ancestral memory to possibilities of today and tomorrow. The film salon will include a private gallery tour by Curator of Contemporary Art Diana Nawi, short film screenings, and discussion space that centers on migration, evolving identities, and the ways ancestral memory continues to shape the present and the possibilities ahead. RSVP at the link in our bio. We hope to see you there for the next iteration of Aama Studio! 🤲🏿 Curated by @houseofaama @jamalademola @matazii #houseofaama #aamastudio #lacma

Sundays at home. 🌱✨ The past few weeks I’ve been deep in a state of transition, moving out of the home that held the last five years of my life. Such a tender time of growth for me, filled with memories I’ll cherish forever and changes that will travel with me along this path. Living here taught me so much about my desires within a home and the small treasures that remind me of who I am. The sculptures and seating stools from my journeys through the Ivory Coast. The 1990s Afrocentric era clock I inherited from my mother. The original hand-painted wood hair ad imported from an African barbershop that once stood in a South Central junkyard, now long gone. The vintage records from Cuba reflecting an era that’s truly missed. Or hanging tapestry recently given to me from my grandfather’s Air Force time in Thailand during the 1950s/60s. This home became my little treasure-collecting sanctuary. A place that reminded me that home is truly where the heart and soul live. Excited for the next journey, and the treasures still waiting to find me. 🏡♾️🤍 #home #interior #moving

We’re so grateful for the film festival awards and official selections we’ve received for our PBS American Masters film, @threadsoflegacyfilm , and moved to bring this energy into our first Aama Studio Film Salon. Thank you so much for the incredible amount of submissions. We’re humbled and excited to watch all of your films. 🎞️ If you haven’t yet, submit your film on Film Freeway. Submissions will close soon.🕯️ #houseofaama #aamastudio

Reflection: Exploring Creative Mediums 🎞️ At House of Aama, our work moves fluidly across different mediums. Through the years, film has become a way to hold time, gesture, and atmosphere with greater intimacy. Exploring this medium has been a beautiful journey, adding characterization to our worlds and work. We’re gracious to have been both subjects and to develop original works, like our Salt Water fashion film, and our Heritage Bloodroot six part short series. This past summer, we celebrated the launch of our PBS American Masters documentary film: Threads of Legacy by Jamal Ademola. Film as a practice has helped inform our storytelling over the years and the worlds in which our garments live. Using them as a vehicle to tell nuanced histories. We’re excited to explore the medium more. Stay tuned for some exciting announcements🪞#houseofaama #aamastudio

Travel Reads. Dakar, Senegal Edition. I’m starting this new thing. I want to be Intentionally focused on boosting my literacy and create an immersive experience when I travel by choosing literature by critically acclaimed authors, artist or scholars from the countries I’m traveling too or connects to said country. Selects: Cheikh Anta Diop - Pre Colonial Black Africa Ousmane Sembene - Xala Bonus: French editions collected during travels Mariama BÂ - Une si longue lettre Aimé Césaire - Cahier d’un retour au pays natal Cheikh Anta Diop - Nations Négres et Culture What’s your reading rituals? #travel #booklist #senegal