Spotlighted: The Ooh La La!s Take New York Fashion Week

Howard University’s Ooh La La! Dance Team introduced HBCU culture to the global fashion audience at Vogue’s 130th-anniversary celebration on Sept. 12. The extravagant street fair and fashion exhibition, entitled Vogue World, celebrated the magazine’s history and foreshadowed the future of fashion. 

The official dance team for Howard University’s Marching Band, representation of HBCUs at this year’s New York Fashion Week was a great beginning celebration of their 40th anniversary. Kya Dykes, the Ooh La Las!’s co-captain said “everything fell into place.” 

The Ooh La La’s fashion week debut happened fast. The team received an email from Vogue inviting them to dance just two weeks before the show. Fortunately, the Ooh La La’s are always prepared to step into the spotlight. The Ooh La La!s were in their element. “We are thinking about the movements and making sure we don’t mess up,” explained Dykes, “but we were just having fun and doing what we do normally at a regular football game.” 

The Vogue World runway was full of color, glitter, dance, and many famous faces. Wimbledon champion Serena Williams opened the show before claiming her seat next to Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour. 

The Ooh La La’s followed a flurry of designer clothing down the runway. As the song tempo changed and light bounced off the bright red and silver sequinned, fringe costumes, the dancers exuded beauty, strength, and school spirit.

Dykes says the team doesn’t take contributing to the 40-year-old legacy of Oh La La! lightly. “You see all the women who came before you and what they’re doing now, and how they’re changemakers in their professions. I feel like being a part of that legacy is humbling,” said Dykes. 

On the field, the Yard, or the runway the Oh La La!s find a way to shine. To quote their co-captain, “You’ll have to wait and see” what the Ooh La La!s do next.