Fashion show celebrates African American expression from slavery through modern day
by Sasha Shapiro '15
Members of the Dickinson community recently packed the Stern Center for Global Education for a fashion show celebrating African American fashion and expression from slavery through the modern day. “We didn’t expect this many people!” Emoni Anderson ’18 said to the audience.
The event was the culminating project of the
first-year learning community Styling and Profiling: African American Identities, in which first-years identified and analyzed fashion trends that culturally and historically shaped African American identity. The learning community was composed of Associate Professor of
Africana Studies Lynn Johnson’s seminar Fashioning African American Identities and Social Consciousness and Assistant Professor of
History Crystal Moten’s seminar Tangled: African American Hair in the U.S.
The fashion show featured iconic outfits and hairstyles, with students in the learning community participating as models and commentators as well as presenting different eras of African American fashion and analyzing the significance of these trends. “Students in both courses were able to use the knowledge they gained in our courses and collaborate on creating the full looks for the fashion show so that they reflected historical and cultural accuracy,” said Johnson.
As the show began, a scratchy recording of slave hymns pierced through the audience’s whispers. Then, the first set of models made their way down the runway. Dressed in modest and traditional cotton garments of slaves in the 1800s, the models limped down the runway, clutching their backs with one hand and a broom with the other. Commentary directed audience attention to the models’ bare feet and their pained expressions.
The mournful, swampy blues transitioned into Kanye West’s “Player’s Anthem,” announcing the next episode in history, as another pair of models took the runway in confident strides: the woman dressed in a formal floral dress and hat on her way to church and a man swinging his jacket carelessly over his shoulder and winking at the audience. The show continued with student models donning the iconic zoot suit of the 1930s, traditional African garments and patterns popular in the 1970s and the baggy sweatpants ubiquitous throughout the 1990s.
In the wake of the racially charged discussions and protests sweeping the country, the fashion show created a space for the Dickinson community to come together and celebrate the history and vibrancy of African American culture. “I want [my students] to appreciate African Americans' intellectual creativity in deploying clothing and adornment as signifiers of cultural pride, resistance and resiliency,” said Johnson.
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Published December 11, 2014
