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Therese Mbaye wins Best Emerging Designer at Florida Fashion Shows 2025
Therese Mbaye, Founder and Creative Director of Noiraud Shop, was named Best Emerging Designer during Friday night’s Florida Fashion Shows event at Porsche South Orlando.
The event featured a lineup of up-and-coming designers that also included Kam Tate, Wendy Zometa, Majestic, Yama by His Grace, OLGIO and PM Markhos. Each presented their latest collections to a full house inside the luxury dealership in Orlando.
Audience members were invited to vote for their favorite designer by scanning a QR code after the show. Mbaye’s “Carry the Load” collection received the most votes.
Unlike the other designers, Mbaye opened her own segment by walking the runway herself, balancing a basket on her head. Halfway down the runway, she bent to pick up one of her handcrafted leather bags without disturbing the basket, prompting cheers and applause from the audience.
Each model in the lineup carried a handmade bag designed by Mbaye, with the phrase “Carry the Load” woven on the bottom.
Mbaye told the Orlando Life the Carry the Load collection draws deep inspiration from her memories of growing up in Senegal, where women and girls would carry heavy buckets of water for miles during times of scarcity.
“For me, it was a powerful symbol,” she said. “Those women didn’t sit around waiting for help, they found a way. That became an analogy I use to teach people about life. Don’t just sit and wait. If something happens to you, figure it out, find the resources. And yes, along the way, you’re going to stumble, you’re going to fall, but there’s always a way to get back up.”
The collection encourages us to learn to carry life’s weight with grace and resilience.
That spirit of self-acceptance also lives in the name of Mbaye’s brand: Noiraud - a word that carries a painful past but now fuels her purpose.
“Growing up, Noiraud was the nickname kids used to tease me,” she said. “It means ‘so dark we can’t see you,’ and I heard it every day because of my skin tone.”
The word, rooted in French colonial language, was once used to belittle her. But Mbaye reclaimed it as a way to confront colorism and celebrate her identity.
“I use my pain and turn it into product,” Mbaye said. “I use my pain and turn it into power.”
For Mbaye, fashion has long been her escape. She spoke about growing up in Senegal, where she would draw her own dress designs in school and dream of one day becoming a designer. “I didn’t have trendy clothes. I used to wear my mom’s dresses to school,” she said. “It was a childhood dream.”
Mbaye said she stayed up the night before the Emerging Designers show cutting, stitching and modifying the outfits to make sure they matched her vision. “I was still finishing everything the night before,” she said. “I’d done fashion shows before, but this was different. I’ve never shaken like that before.”
She emphasized that both the garments and bags were her own creations. The garments were modified from a previous collection and are part of a limited-edition release. The bags are also a limited run with just 100 pieces total.
“I want to keep it exclusive and high-quality,” she said. “Once they’re gone, they’re gone.”
Mbaye said winning the award was overwhelming.
“The feeling I have… it’s fulfillment,” she said. “My heart is so full. It’s like the child in me finally got to celebrate. I’ve been happy before, but this joy, this was different. It told me that the voice inside of me was right to keep going.”
She added that the recognition affirmed her choice to bet on herself.
Attendees told the Orlando Life her collection was vibrant, elegant, and left a lasting impression for its originality and personal flair.
Gaby Sadler, a luxury Real Estate Advisor with Serhant and fashion show judge, said, “Therese Mbaye’s beachwear collection was simply breathtaking, effortless, elegant and full of personality. I’m still thinking about those swimsuits and purses.”
James Gelfand, a local arts advocate and General Manager of the Citrus Club in downtown Orlando, said Mbaye’s work was “bright, vibrant and a fresh take on fashion.”
Raj Alexander, Managing Partner of Porsche South Orlando where the show was held said, "The Florida Fashion Show showcased exceptional talents, and Therese Mbaye truly shone. Her collection radiated confidence and uniqueness."
Mbaye has lived in Orlando for more than a decade and said she’s excited to see the city’s fashion scene growing.
“Orlando is definitely becoming the fashion place of Florida,” she said. “Every week now there’s a show, and I love that it’s not just fashion. We have fashion with art, fashion with wine, fashion with community.”
Through her brand and public speaking, she hopes to continue inspiring others to embrace self-acceptance and personal growth.
“I believe if we all take the time to see who we are and accept it, flaws and all, we’ll realize the power that’s already in us,” Mbaye said. “This is just the beginning.”
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