Black Creatives in the Lou is set to fill the Regional Arts Commission's City Foundry gallery with handmade fashion on August 29, staging an event called Handmade, with Love <3 from 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 3745 Foundry Way, Suite 149, in St. Louis. The showcase marks the latest chapter for the Black-led creative collective, which has spent the past several years building a footprint across the city's retail and cultural institutions.
The event was announced as part of a segment on FOX 2's StudioSTL, in which BCL founder Yolanda “YoRo” Newson invited designer Ami, also known as Amina Taylor, to join her on air to discuss the collective's work. Ami creates crochet fashions and has created a Met Gala dress, according to the segment. Her appearance underscores how BCL continues to spotlight individual designers alongside its larger institutional partnerships.
A Collective Built From North St. Louis Roots
Newson, a native of Old North St. Louis and a self-taught jewelry designer, launched her own line, Yoro Creations, in 2012 before founding Black Creatives in the Lou in 2021 to give underrepresented local Black fashion designers and visual artists greater visibility and mentorship, according to STL.org. That mission has since carried the collective well beyond its grassroots beginnings. In June, Newson was named Best Stylist in the St. Louis American Readers' Choice Awards, while BCL's exhibition at Neiman Marcus was a finalist for Best Cultural Event, per the St. Louis American.
Newson's creative reach extends into film as well. She served as wardrobe costumer for the feature film Soul on Fire, released in late 2025, according to Delux Magazine. That multidisciplinary streak has helped position BCL as more than a fashion showcase — the collective has staged Black History Month exhibitions inside Neiman Marcus at Plaza Frontenac in January 2025 and January 2026, following a 2024 showcase at Dillard's in the St. Louis Galleria, according to the St. Louis American.
Deepening Ties With Local Arts Institutions
BCL's collaborations have also reached into the museum world. In May, the collective partnered with Fashion Group International of St. Louis and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis to present a fashion as art showcase during a Met Gala red carpet watch party, according to the Contemporary Art Museum. And in June, BCL curated the 3rd Annual Juneteenth Fashion Show as part of the 7th Annual Official St. Louis Juneteenth Festival, featuring collections from local Black designers, stylists, and models, per House of Soul.
The partnership with the Regional Arts Commission has its own history. During RAC's 40th-anniversary celebration at St. Louis Union Station last August, Black Creatives in the Lou was selected to curate a featured fashion showcase displaying works from local designers on models and mannequins, the St. Louis American reported. The upcoming Handmade, with Love <3 event extends that relationship into RAC's satellite gallery space.
A Gallery Inside a Growing Midtown Hub
The Regional Arts Commission maintains its satellite office and gallery inside City Foundry, where it also hosts quarterly community networking events called Snacks with RAC and other public programming for local artists, according to the commission. City Foundry itself has become an economic anchor for Midtown, generating roughly $63 million in retail sales in 2025 and now sitting at the center of a proposed $39 million Midtown Tax Increment Financing district approved by the St. Louis TIF Commission this month, as Hoodline reported.
RAC's role as a public funder is not without scrutiny. The commission awarded more than $3.7 million in grants to 174 local arts organizations in July 2025, but it has since become the subject of a Missouri State Auditor performance audit launched in March regarding administrative expenses and grant evaluation procedures, according to the state auditor's office and KSDK. RAC has also faced debates over hotel-tax revenue allocations that affect its grant funding, issues Hoodline has covered in its reporting on the commission's public defense amid state scrutiny.
For Newson and the designers she champions, the City Foundry gallery offers another stage at a moment when both BCL and its public-sector host are drawing wider attention across St. Louis. The August 29 event continues a pattern of BCL pairing grassroots Black creative talent with some of the city's most visible retail and institutional spaces.
