I don’t design clothes for the Queen; but for the people who wave at her as she goes by. -Willi Smith
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Unknown or overlooked – stories that need to be told.
I don’t design clothes for the Queen; but for the people who wave at her as she goes by. -Willi Smith
Read moreA passionate declaration from Bill Cunningham, American fashion photographer of the New York Times, who remembers that the Black fashion models at the Battle of Versailles fashion show brought together a cultural movement that not only marked a new era in fashion, but was a defining moment in racial equality.
Read moreFrom civil rights to the catwalk, Ebony Fashion Fair defied all odds and left an empowering effect on the African American community. The cumulative effect of years of presenting high fashion to African Americans, on African Americans, with African Americans taste-making in mind, enabled Mrs. Johnson to be a change-agent who harnessed the power of […]
Read moreDonyale Luna, Naomi Ruth Sims, Beverly Johnson.
Read moreMildred Blount became the first African American member of the Motion Pictures Costumers Union. Her hats are in the collections of California African American Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Read moreI love my clothes and I’m particular about whom I sew for. I’m an awful snob. I’m not interested in sewing for café society or for social climbers. I do not cater to Mary and Sue. I sew for the families of the social register. – Anne Lowe Gerri Major, Ebony Magazine, December 1966
Read moreIn 1900 a transformation of Black identity and the world’s view of Blacks in America took center stage at the 1900’s World’s Fair in Paris. A perception of Blacks in America was manifested through photojournalism and visual data witnessed by the outside world looking in. Those in the Black community validated that perception by leveraging […]
Read moreCotton, the most widely used textile fiber in the world, has a distinguishable, contentious history of oppressed, discriminatory labor practices in the United States. The use of cheap factory labor has its roots in an all too familiar story of oppression and segregation.
Read moreA Study of Eight is a curated editorial project advancing the study of African Americans’ contribution to fashion history. Eight American stories cover people and events of cultural and historical significance occurring between 1880 and 1980 against the backdrop of the post Reconstruction era to beyond the civil rights movement. These stories represent the voices of […]
Read moreBy 1930, Berlin emerged as an international fashion capital. It’s success even drew Parisian fashion designers. Most of the fashion businesses were owned and operated by German Jews. In their thrust to decimate the Jewish population, in 1933 the Nazis implemented a campaign to force these firms to sell. Signs in store windows read “Germans […]
Read moreGordon Parks accomplished many firsts, including the distinction of being the first black photographer at Vogue, Glamour, and Life magazines.
Read moreTextiles of historic traditional compositions and unparalleled beauty have been a marker of our time, and in some cases are modernized in transforming identity and culture.
Read moreAlexander McQueen will clearly be documented in fashion history as the first most awarded and socially provocative designer.
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