Overview

From Elizabeth Keckly’s designs as a freewoman for Abraham Lincoln’s wife to flamboyant clothing showcased by Patrick Kelly in Paris, Black designers have made major contributions to American fashion. However, many of their achievements have gone unrecognized. This book, inspired by the award-winning exhibition at the Museum at FIT, uncovers hidden histories of Black designers at a time when conversations about representation and racialized experiences in the fashion industry have reached all-time highs. In chapters from leading and up-and-coming authors and curators, Black Designers in American Fashion uses previously unexplored sources to show how Black designers helped build America’s global fashion reputation. From enslaved 18th-century dressmakers to 20th-century “star” designers, via independent modistes and Seventh Avenue workers, the book traces the changing experiences of Black designers under conditions such as slavery, segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement. Black Designers in American Fashion shows that within these contexts Black designers maintained multifaceted practices which continue to influence American and global style today. Interweaving fashion design and American cultural history, this book fills critical gaps in the history of fashion and offers insights and context to students of fashion, design, and American and African American history and culture.

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9781350138476

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Reviews

This fresh collection of essays sheds much-needed light on Black fashion makers-recovering histories many thought were unknowable while centering on the genius of Black design. It is required reading for anyone serious about identity politics, craft, labor, and Black futurity. * Tanisha C. Ford, Author of Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl's Love Letter to the Power of Fashion * Conveys the vast and important impact of Black designers on the American fashion industry through untold stories ranging from descriptions of rare extant garments to pioneering designers ... Required reading for all in the fashion industry. * Eulanda A. Sanders, Iowa State University, USA *

Author Information

Elizabeth Way is Associate Curator of Costume at The Museum at FIT, New York, USA. She co-curated the 2016 exhibition Black Fashion Designers.

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