Up and coming fashion model Sharonne Greene AKA El Guappo walked at Karl Kani fashion show during L.A. Fashion week recently in the fashion district in Los Angeles. A native New Yorker himself, much like Kani, El Guappo said he was “honored” to walk in a show featuring clothing from a designer that he respected by another New York Native. Harlem met up with Brooklyn in downtown Los Angeles and made history.
El Guappo, an artist out of Harlem NYC is an artist at heart. Not just a model, Greene discovered two other creative forms music and acting. While his modeling has found him, working fashion week in L.A modeling the iconic for Karl Kani fashion line, El Guappo also debuted in television series Law and Order: Organized Crime as Lieutenant Greene and plays a drug dealer in an upcoming series Power Ghost Book II season 3.
“Karl Kani’s clothing was a symbol of status, and anyone who wore it was immediately treated with a type of respect,” Said El Guappo when explaining why he feels connected to the fashion line. As a member of a large family (a staggering 7 sisters and 4 brothers) nice, designer clothing was not a luxury he couldn’t afford while he was young. Over time, his passion and his drive propelled him into a position where he could not only afford the brand he had grown to love, but also represent it in a major fashion event.
When asked about his ascent into modeling, according to El Guappo, it was a complete surprise he’s only been a model for two months, “Modeling wasn’t something I had ever really considered before,” he began, “In high school, I was always in shape, but I never really developed in my facial features until late.” Despite being a three-sport all-star in Washington and lee a small town in Westmoreland county called Montross VA, El Guappo surprisingly identified himself as sort of a nerd growing up. Whatever the case, his career has brought him to the point where he was now able to represent the very clothing he never had access to as a child, an opportunity which El Guappo himself describes as “an honor.”
So where does this up-and-coming young model see himself in the future? Wherever life takes him. “I’m just focused on continuing to grow, whether that be as a model, an actor, or a musician, I just want to continue to hone my craft.” While El Guappo has his sights set on multiple ways to express his creative spirit, it is clear that he will be a mainstay in fashion events for the immediate future.
When asked about how Kani has inspired him, El Guappo disclosed that someday he would like to have his own fashion line, much like the man he looks up. When pressed about the demographics his clothing would cater too, El Guappo spoke humbly of bringing his style back to his roots. “I want to make clothing for all weather, clothing that’s accessible to everyone. Clothing that exudes the same type of reverence that Karl Kani’ did for me when I saw it on the streets.” The future of the fashion was bright with Karl Kani in it, and it continues to shine brighter as more and more generations under Kani, generations like El Guappo, continue to push for representation and recognition in the fashion world.
