"Be okay with being different and being unique. Your time is coming." – Ashante B.
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THE ARTIST WHO WEARS ÖFUURË LIKE A CANVAS
A visual artist based in Toronto, Ashante Blackwood (@_artisticlifestyle6) is the kind of person who makes you rethink dressing. Being an artist, The same design eye and creativity that decides which colours belong together on a canvas is what decides what goes on her body every morning. For Ashante, style isn't separate from her practice; it's simply another extension of it. When she stepped into Queen's Corner, she brought her painting, "Girls Girl", and styled both the IGHO Fringe Maxi Dress and the NYLA Blazer Dress to match it. Honestly, we weren't surprised by how intentional it all felt.
INSIDE EP. 1
Look 1 – NYLA meets EDEN
On confidence and presence:
"As a plus-size, curvy woman, sometimes we feel the pressure to move through a room quietly, to take up less space. That's never been me. I walk in and I want my presence to be known. Confidence is the whole outfit."
Ashante came prepared, and it showed. The NYLA Blazer Dress came first. She paired it with dark blue tights, the RAFI Gold Earrings, a burgundy purse, and yellow slingback heels. Each piece pulled directly from a colour in her painting. The denim blue of the dress wasn't just a starting point; it was the canvas. Everything else was intentional.
NYLA Blazer Dress from DENIM DAZE II
Available in XS-4XL
$295 USD
EDEN Long Jacket from DENIM DAZE II
Available in XS-4XL
$365 USD
RAFI Leaf Earrings in GOLD
Available in silver
$30 USD
Look 2 – IGHO is a Girls Girl
On how her art shapes how she dresses:
"The paintings I work on are very colourful, very vibrant. When I get dressed, I want to embody that. My wardrobe and my canvas are really the same thing."
The IGHO Dress was a different kind of conversation. She kept it refined with gold heels, the TYRA Earrings, gold rings, and a marble gold acrylic purse that mirrored the pattern of her painting almost exactly. Where the NYLA look was about colour, this one was about texture and finish. Same painting, completely different story.
IGHO Sequin Fringe Maxi Dress in RED from F/W '25
Available in XS-4XL
$350 USD
TYRA Earrings in GOLD
Available in silver.
$30 USD
On advice to her younger self:
"Be okay with being different. Be okay with being unique. Your time is coming. You'll eventually become that IT girl."
Ashante captured the essence of Queen’s Corner: highlighting how real women use style as a form of self-expression and to tell their story through what they wear. By styling each look around her own artwork, Ashante showed what personal fashion can be when it reflects who you are. Shop Ashante's full looks now, available in XS – 4XL.
