The Invisible Seam

In this bonus episode, our host Kimberly Jenkins has reflective, candid conversations with designers Clarence Ruth, Megan Renee and Johnathan Hayden. They discuss their inspirations, trajectories and cultural influences; their challenges, hopes and triumphs. Each designer competed in the inaugural New Legacy Challenge, a design competition developed through a partnership between Tommy Hilfiger’s People’s Place Program and Harlem’s Fashion Row. The New Legacy Challenge 2.0 will bring in three new BIPOC designers to reinterpret Tommy Hilfiger's iconic prep styles in their design aesthetic. This year, the program is back and it is back in a bigger and better way!

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Fashion academia and the fashion industry don’t often talk to each other, but that’s exactly why we have this podcast. In this bonus episode, Kimberly sits down with Randy Cousin, who leads The People’s Place Program at Tommy Hilfiger to talk about why representation matters, the danger of erasure and so much more.

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When some of us go through doors, we take them off their hinges. What does the future of fashion look like, and how do we get there? Featuring Aria Hughes, Brandice Daniel, Law Roach, Randy Cousin, Ade Samuel, Connor McKnight, Letesha Renee and Zairion Lester.

Syllabus: 

Amidst the social turmoil of 2020, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Robin Givhan provides a bird’s eye view in the critical piece, “Fashion’s Racial Reckoning”.

What does a fabric historically worn by Ghanian royalty have to do with Louis Vuitton, radical Black politics and sportswear? The essay, “Sporting Kente Cloth,” connects the dots and traces its heightened visibility to art and fashion visionary Virgil Abloh. 

A book for the streetwear connoisseur is The Incomplete: Highsnobiety Guide to Street Fashion and Culture, which covers the global influence of streetwear, featuring fashion luminaries the likes of Pharrell Williams, A$AP Rocky, Ye (Kanye West) and Jaden Smith.

A comprehensive volume on one of the most magnetizing fashion subjects in history, This is Not Fashion: Streetwear Past, Present and Future is ideal for enthusiasts looking to understand the roots and significant figures in streetwear.

Bridging the past to the future: Meet the mother and daughter design duo behind House of Aama, as they explore “the folkways of the Black experience by designing timeless garments with nostalgic references informed by historical research, archival analysis, and storytelling.”

This stylish book cover has been spotted on countless bookshelves and coffee tables, because its title, The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion, provides a long-awaited compilation of the newest and brightest Black photographers on the fashion scene today. 

For a transcript of this episode, please visit https://fashionandrace.org/database/

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1900, 1987, 2018 - three moments when HBCU fashion culture expanded perceptions of being Black in America. We explore what it meant then—and today. Featuring Darnell Jamal-Lisby, Ceci, Jasmine Guy, Elizabeth Way and Monica Miller. 

Syllabus: 

The impact of HBCU style has extended beyond the campus, reaching the tv screen and the runway. Guest Darnell-Jamal Lisby takes us on a journey through its history in “Styling the Quad: Fashioning the Legacy of HBCU Culture.” 

“Welcome to Homecoming!” celebrates the traditions of Homecoming celebrations at historically Black colleges and universities across the nation.

Authored by guest Monica Miller, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity emphasizes the importance of sartorial style to Black identity formation in the Atlantic diaspora – and tells the story of a very fashionable young W.E.B. DuBois.

How does it feel to be groomed as the "solution" to a national Black male "problem"? This is the guiding paradox of Respectable: Politics and Paradox in Making the Morehouse Man , an in-depth examination of graduates of Morehouse College, the nation's only historically Black college for men.

“Madras Fabric” details the origins of a style of cotton from India used to great effect in many of the Caribbean islands as the basis for their national costumes and extensively by designers such as Ralph Lauren. 

For a transcript of this episode, please visit https://fashionandrace.org/database/ep4-the-best-the-brightest-the-dressed/

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All white, top hat, Sunday best, black beret, denim - these have been tools of protest and catalysts for change throughout history. Now we’re unpacking the relationship between what we wear and what we believe. Featuring Angela Tate, Richard Thompson Ford, Elizabeth Way and Miko Underwood. 

Syllabus: 

What does anti-Blackness and anti-transness have in common? The groundbreaking scholarship in the book, Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity, reminds us that true justice must be fought at the intersection of race and gender.

What did Black people wear when they were ready to make a political statement? Guest Angela Tate gives us an idea in her essay, “Fashioning the Protest.”

Before there was Venus and Serena, there was Althea Gibson. Back in the 1950s, the tennis star made an impact when she decided to wear the same athletic uniform often worn by the White, tennis club elite. Guest Angela Tate introduces us to Althea Gibson's Tennis Whites as a pivotal moment in fashion history. 

Historian Tanisha C. Ford’s award-winning scholarship in Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul shows us how Black women in the 1960s through the 1980s used beauty culture and their style of dress as a tool for liberation around the world.

A material that has touched every one of our lives and holds a turbulent labor history, we provide a short profile of “Cotton,” locating its various origins, and how Black creatives are reckoning with it. 

The book, Empire of Cotton: A Global History, is a bookshelf essential, as it provides a thorough survey of modern, global capitalism’s most necessary clothing material.

Learn more about guest Miko Underwood’s journey through fashion and justice through her essay, “Red, White and Indigo: The Hidden Commodity of the Slave Trade” (published on Juneteenth) where we also include a link to her fashion film, Red, White & Indigo: The Untold Story of American Denim.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit https://fashionandrace.org/database/ep3-statement-piece/

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When hip-hop’s popularity skyrocketed in the 90s and early 2000s, designers and stylists embraced—and dressed—their tribes. And the world took notice. Featuring Monica Morrow, Boz Bradshaw, Elena Romero and April Walker. 

Syllabus: 

The multi-billion dollar fashion industry didn’t become so profitable on its own. Check out the book, Free Stylin': How Hip-Hop Changed the Fashion Industry, where author (and guest) Elena Romero breaks down how hip hop fashion went “from the ‘hood’ to the runway.” 

What were some of the most defining fashion labels and looks in hip hop fashion history? The essay, “A Great Day in Hip Hop – A Decade of Hip Hop Style’s Influences” brings it all together, and urges us to never forget.

Check out our profile of Misa Hylton, who was a contemporary of Monica and Boz, advocating to dress Black music artists.

A great way to take in all of the incredible hip hop style from the past is to see it in motion. Sit back and watch the documentary Fresh Dressed for an introduction to hip hop’s pioneers and tastemakers. 

Black fashion contributions have had a global impact, and the industry doesn’t hesitate to monetize it – often with no credit. The book White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue... and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation builds an argument for why this is problematic and even harmful.

How many of you are familiar with the name Isaiah Rankin when it comes to head-turning streetwear?Guest Elizabeth Way provides a formal introduction.

Guest April Walker told us about the influence that a particular streetwear icon had on her design and business trajectory. You can read his story in the memoir, Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem.

Black music artists have been setting the trends for at least a century. Guest Elizabeth Way takes us back in time to acknowledge the unforgettable menswear legacy of Sam Cooke.

The multitalented performer and activist Eartha Kitt was wearing luxury fashion labels amidst the segregation era. This profile reminds us of the power she wielded with her style, leaving a feminist sartorial legacy that reverberates to this day.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit fashionandrace.org/database/ep2-rhythm-and-muse.

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They fell in love with fashion. They remixed looks, dressed our favorite characters, ignited the industry, took what others might’ve seen as scraps and made them beautiful. They carved out a space for themselves. Featuring Jeffrey Banks, Ceci, Romeo Hunte, Law Roach, Letesha Renee, Darnell-Jamal Lisby, Miko Underwood, Brandice Daniel, Jasmine Guy, Connor McKnight, Monica Miller, April Walker, Monica Morrow, Boz Bradshaw and Randy Cousin. 

 

Syllabus: 

Throughout history, Black people have always had that “special sauce” that has created a style tradition that is uniquely resourceful and innovative. The book Stylin': African-American Expressive Culture, from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit takes us through that history.

Black people have seen the influence of their style travel across the globe, and the book, How to Slay: Inspiration from the Queens and Kings of Black Style, provides a complete survey of how we “slay.”

We all have a story about that certain thing we wore that made us feel special or seen. Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion inspires us to remember what those things were, and explains how it’s vital in keeping our culture alive. 

When host Kimberly Jenkins had the opportunity to meet the late fashion legend André Leon Talley, he joined her at Parsons School of Design as she hosted a screening of the documentary, The Gospel According to André, in effort to give Talley his flowers.

Fashion veteran Bethann Hardison also has a motherly connection to a “Different World” star referenced in our upcoming episode on HBCU style.

How many Black fashion designers throughout history can you name? Podcast guest Elizabeth Way provides us with the much-needed book, Black Designers in American Fashion, as an essential reference guide. 

Guest Darnell-Jamal Lisby penned this profile on the admired Willi Smith and speaks about Smith’s design approach in this episode.

The late designer Patrick Kelly showed Black fashion design hopefuls just how far you could make it in an industry known for being famously exclusive. Which is why we recommend the piece, “Patrick Kelly Was the Jackie Robinson of High Fashion”.

A contemporary of our podcast guest Jeffrey Banks, along with the late designers Willi Smith and Patrick Kelly, our profile on Stephen Burrows celebrates the fashion designer who dressed our bodies to dance and move.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit fashionandrace.org/database/ep1-no-blueprint.

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Often unappreciated, but never unnoticed - welcome to the show that celebrates Black contributions to fashion. Hosted by fashion educator Kimberly Jenkins, this five-part series explores moments in history when Black Americans demanded respect, challenged norms, built community and imagined the future - all through what they wore. From The Fashion and Race Database, Tommy Hilfiger’s People’s Place Program and Pineapple Street Studios.

For a transcript, please visit fashionandrace.org/database/trailer.

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