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From Lindy Hop To Hip-Hop
Fashion Exhibit Puts Black Style in Focus
By JOSETTE COMPTON
The display showcasing the style of female rap group Salt-N-Pepa made me repress my urges to blurt out old school hip-hop catchphrases like “fresh,” or “dope,” to describe the exhibit. But these three women, dressed in red, black and white body suits and multi-colored leather jackets, brought back memories of my childhood – memories of me standing in front of the television emulating many of their dances, wearing gold bamboo earrings and an A-symmetrical haircut that made Salt-N-Pepa hip-hop fashion legends.
Just as the Salt-N-Pepa display reminded me of how the group made me feel fly (even if I wasn’t), many of the presentations at the “Black Style Now” exhibition took me back in time. The exhibition, held at the Museum of the City of New York, explored the evolution of African-American style, particularly hip-hop’s impact on mainstream fashion. Organizers say it was the first exhibition exclusively devoted to black fashion, showcasing African-American style from the 1920s, through 1960s and onto today’s hip-hop-influenced dress.
To show the progression of black style from the 1920s to the 1960s, curators used photographs, clothing and accessories made famous by Marian Anderson, Cab Calloway, Eartha Kitt, Geoffrey Holder, Joe Louis and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. More than 50 mannequins were also on display to show the evolution of hip-hop fashion from the 1980s until today.
The “Black Style Now” exhibition aims to pay homage to African-American designers, who say they were denied entry into mainstream fashion because of race.
Holly Alford, assistant professor of Fashion Design and Merchandising at Virginia Commonwealth University and an expert on African-American clothing and designers, says many African-American designers during the 1920s and 1930s weren’t allowed to feature their work on New York’s Seventh Avenue, home to the famed garment and fashion district, and were only hired as seamstresses and tailors.
“Some designers worked for well-known families, but were not recognized,” Alford says, noting Ann Lowe who designed Jacqueline Kennedy’s wedding dress. “This is why big designers [at that time] were sneaking into Harlem to steal ideas from black designers, who had shows in the streets of Harlem.”
“People have never known African American fashion,” says co-curator Michael Henry Adams in describing the “The Way We Wore: Black Style Then,” exhibit. “The exhibit helps people realize that in all things, from the very beginning of this nation and the city of New York, that African Americans have been involved in making contributions to this country.”
Adams, an author and Harlem historian, teamed with fashion designer and author Michael Collom to create “Black Style Now.” The effort has been met with praise and criticism, particularly by journalists like myself, who wanted to know more about the conceptual framework in which the fashions were created.
As I started a slow and concentrated walk around the museum I thought the exhibit successfully presented a generational mix of fashion icons. But I questioned whether the intended purpose of “Black Style Now” was simply to showcase African Americans wearing various styles of clothing, or to explain the attitudes and history of the designers behind those styles. Collom says the plan was to “define and acknowledge what African Americans brought to fashion and culture.”
However, I didn’t feel the exhibit fully achieved that goal. Though “Black Style Now” featured fashions from several important decades, the exhibition could have showcased more of the history behind the designs. For example, in the mid-1980s, hip-hop group Run-D.M.C. popularized Adidas sneakers, which at the time were worn mostly by whites, by removing the original skinny shoelaces and replacing them with fat shoelaces, or by eliminating the laces altogether. This definitive moment in black style wasn’t thoroughly explored in the exhibit.
Alford, who is currently writing a book based on her research on African-American designers and fashion, attended the exhibit, described it as “disappointing.”
“It was hard to see which garment went with which designer and to the novice, the exhibit was confusing and very small for such a large sponsorship,” she says. “However, there are so few exhibits that pay tribute to the accomplishments of blacks in fashion, so for that reason I was excited that there was an exhibition on New York black style.”
Adams, the exhibition’s co-curator, pointed to the lindy hoppers exhibit as an example of how “Black Style Now” placed the fashion in context. Lindy hoppers, who were swing dancing troupes in the 1920s and 193os that popularized the lindy hop dance, were showed pictured next to black men dressed in bomber jackets and khakis inspired by famed pilot Charles Lindbergh.
“They were working class, and they were dancing,” Adams says. In the display, women, who were dancing with their dates, were shown wearing knee-length pleated skirts, bobby socks and saddle shoes. “They were not going to encumber themselves with long evening dresses,” he says. NEXT
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