During the 1960s and 1970s, as the “fashion industry” arose from the “rag trade” in New York, the idea of the American designer was being negotiated and crafted in the fashion and mainstream press. Black designers simultaneously saw a new level of exposure against the background of the Civil Rights Movement and a changing social landscape. This lecture by the editor of the 2021 book Black Designers in American Fashion will explore how a selection of these designers fashioned their personas in the press as adeptly as the clothing they produced, helping to lay the foundation of how American designers are perceived today.

Elizabeth Way is Associate Curator of Costume at The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her exhibitions include Global Fashion Capitals (2015), Black Fashion Designers (2016), Fabric In Fashion (2018), and Head to Toe (2021). Way’s personal research focuses on the intersection of African American culture and fashion. She edited the book Black Designers in American Fashion (2021). Way holds an M.A. in Costume Studies from New York University.

This event is part of our Fabulous Fashion exhibition season. More about the exhibition here.

Fabulous Fashion is generously supported by The Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation, Bloomingdale’s, and The Felicia Fund.