In 2017, the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology opened a groundbreaking exhibition, “Black Fashion Designers,” examining the significant, yet often unrecognized, impact that Black designers have had on fashion. This extensive survey showcased approximately 75 styles by more than 60 designers from the past 80 years. These designers included 1950s society dressmaker Ann Lowe, who designed Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ wedding dress, 1970s stars Stephen Burrows and Scott Barry, who defined the glamorous body-con style of the disco era, and today’s emerging talents like designer Kerby Jean-Raymond, who worked with LaQuan Smith and Pierre Moss.
The exhibition is accompanied by a mobile tour with smartphone-friendly multimedia content, including archival video footage and interviews with designers, which the museum has now made available online. The tour is narrated by legendary fashion journalist André Leon Talley, who recently published “The Chiffon Trenches,” a memoir looking back on a half-century of writing and styling for Women’s Wear Daily, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Interview, and more.
Here, we spoke to Talley and the exhibition’s co-curator, Elizabeth Way, about how Black designers are having a major impact on the fashion industry but often remain overlooked compared to their peers—and, more importantly, how we can change that.
What do you want people who viewed your 2017 exhibition “Black Fashion Designers” online to take away now?
Elizabeth Way: One of the things that my co-curator Ariel Elia and I really wanted to highlight with this exhibition is that there is no one definition of black style. There is no one style that black designers can design. We wanted to highlight the many talented black designers who have been active in the fashion industry since the 1950s.
There is no one definition of Black style, and there is no one style that Black designers design.
Andre Leon Talley: There are so many great black designers. Stephen Burroughs is right up there with his contemporary Halston. He was a great, original self-taught talent. In the 1970s, he created the most incredible color-blocked clothes, full of optimism, that represented something that had never been seen before in fashion. They were like wearable art.
Scott Barry is another great designer of this era. Before Burroughs and Barry, there was a great woman named Ann Lowe who was an unheralded pioneer of black style and design.
Eileen Costa
Stephen Burrows two-piece evening dress, 1973-74.
The exhibition also features Anne Law’s wedding dresses, which are absolutely stunning!
ALT: Ms. Low is a special figure in history. She was an incredible woman who came over from the South in the 1950s and designed clothes for all of Park Avenue socialites. All the socialites on the East Coast wore Ann Low. She designed the gown that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wore when she married John F. Kennedy in 1953 in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
Ann Lowe obviously watched her grandmother sew and built a career around that. This is the history of black designers. It comes from the segregated South and comes from traditional ancestral memory. Ancestral memory is very deeply ingrained in the work of black designers. Most of them are self-taught and remember relatives sewing. This exhibition encompasses many of the individuals who make up the broader quilt of American fashion history.
Eileen Costa
Ann Lowe wedding dress, 1968.
Tell us more about your memories of encountering these black fashion stars as a young editor at Women’s Wear Daily in the mid-1970s.
ALT: Well, a little before my time, Stephen Burroughs participated in the Battle of Versailles fashion show in 1973. It was a great honor for him to be one of the five American designers to go up against the best French talent. The other five were Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Halston, and Anne Klein. He walked the show last and wowed the audience. Nobody had ever seen so many black models walk the runway. The background music was Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” and the clothes had a minimalist elegance. Stephen Burroughs’ designs are always in harmony with the body. His technique is very much a continuation of what Madame Vionnet created in the early 20th century. I think this is important for the history of fashion. He evolved the bias cut.
Scott Barry’s clothes were in matte jersey and were very elegant and sensual. What I remember most about Scott Barry is his success as a designer. He lived in a beautiful townhouse on the Lower East Side, filled with white silk satin Art Deco furniture. It was unusual for me. I was in his house a couple of times. He was not a close friend like Stephen Burroughs.
Eileen Costa
Stephen Burrows ensemble, circa 1977; Scott Barry dress, circa 1973; Fabrice jumpsuit, circa 1978.
When I left for Paris in 1978 to become the fashion editor of Women’s Wear Daily, it was a big moment in my career. Stephen Burroughs threw me a farewell party at his house. All the important people were there: Elsa Peretti, bag designer Bobby Bresslow, Bethan Hardison. It was a really wonderful moment.
Another friend featured in the exhibition is experimentalist Andre Walker. His designs are truly one of a kind, often combining multiple garments, such as a jacket that transforms into a capelet/halter top at the back. Can you tell us about his inspiration?
ALT: Andre Walker is another unsung hero of fashion. He’s an underground designer who’s been in the fashion industry since the 1980s. He’s shown in Paris twice. I went to see two of his shows in the early 1990s. He lives in Brooklyn, and his parents are very religious. He’s self-taught. Andre Walker is an extraordinary human being, and I think some of the best examples of contemporary fashion on show are the clothes he designed for Rei Kawakubo’s Dover Street Market.
Eileen Costa
Andre Walker Ensemble, Spring 2016.
The “Activism” section of the exhibition includes Pir Moss designer Kerby Jean-Raymond’s “They Have Names” t-shirt, released in spring 2016. The t-shirt conveys a powerful message in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, which is even more poignant now. In what ways do you think fashion should use its platform to promote social justice?
ALT: Well, I think that was one of the most original segments of the exhibit. It was a very powerful moment to use the T-shirt because the T-shirt is a universal uniform. And the T-shirt is very, very relevant today because there are people protesting in the streets all over the world for Black Lives Matter. Protesting against the social injustice of the killings of young black men and women by police officers. They’re not wearing high fashion. They’re usually wearing T-shirts. The T-shirt is a very important piece of clothing. Men, women, children, teenagers, seniors can wear a T-shirt and protest in the streets. It’s comfortable, accessible, and affordable.
Men, women, children, teens and seniors can all wear the T-shirt and take to the streets to protest.
One of the things that struck me at George Floyd’s funeral was that the choir on stage behind Reverend Al Sharpton were wearing black T-shirts that said, “I can’t breathe.” “I can’t breathe” is a very strong, sad, and important message that we really need to remember that George Floyd’s humanity was taken away by a man who pressed his knee against his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
EW: It was very courageous of Kerby Jean-Raymond to open that show. He did a video interviewing the families of victims of police violence and included it in his show. He lost clients because of it. He lost buyers. He did a very courageous thing. I think it’s important and wonderful for designers to make a statement. But if the fashion industry really wants to make a statement in support of social issues, that change has to come from the top too.
Eileen Costa
Pyer Moss T-shirt, Spring 2016.
What actions would you like to see the fashion industry take to be more inclusive and supportive of Black designers?
ALT: Global brands like Gucci and Prada have begun to seek advice from black members of the industry. Gucci was one of the first to set up this advisory board, which I think started about a year ago, to regularly discuss issues that are important to the role of black talent in the fashion industry. This is very significant.
EW: I agree 100%. It’s great that people in the boardroom are having these conversations and doing this education, but I would add that more diversity among corporate leaders themselves will make a difference.
André, you’ve obviously mentored a lot of young designers. How do you go about doing that?
ALT: I have to thank my former mentors, editors Diana Vreeland and Carrie Donovan. I had great role models, just nurturing them through conversations and special opportunities and encouraging them to never give up. For example, the first time I read about Laquan Smith was in a New York Times article about how he was living in his grandmother’s house in Queens and making patterns out of newspapers. I remember thinking, this guy has something.
I went to his first show and I was blown away. It was amazing; amazing in its relevance and its fashionability. By the time he had his second or third show, I saw Serena Williams walking in that dress. She was in town for the U.S. Open and I said to her, “Come walk with me to the LaQuan Smith show.” She never had a fitting for the dress that she wore, but she ended up closing the show.
Eileen Costa
LaQuan Smith dress, Fall 2016
Laquan Smith is such an amazing guy that I gave him $2,000 of my own money. I went up to him one day and said, “Take this check and go to Paris. Paris is the mecca of style and fashion, and just seeing the light on the buildings is inspiring. You don’t have to go to Paris to do anything. I’m not saying you have to go to Paris to meet designers or get a job.” I said, “Just go for a couple of days. Sit down and drink hot chocolate, eat croissants, enjoy a cafe in an open-air restaurant.” And he did. I met him recently, before COVID hit. I went to his studio in Queens, and he’s still doing amazing work. He’s extraordinary. He’s a self-made, extraordinary guy.
EW: I would just add that the more people like you are in a position to mentor others, the better. You sent Laquan Smith to Paris just as Pat Cleveland sent Patrick Kelly to Paris. So the more people you have in high positions, the easier it is for everybody, because these relationships just happen naturally.
ALT: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Since the exhibition first opened in 2017, are there any new artists you’re excited to see?
ALT: Christopher John Rogers is a great designer. He is the man of the future. FIT should strive to add some of his original designs to their collection.
EW: Yes! We’re definitely working on it.
ALT: Congratulations to you too on your new boss at Harper’s Bazaar. It’s a great moment in fashion history.
