When John Johnson and his wife Eunice created the Johnson Publication Company back in the 1940s, the world for African Americans changed forever. With the production of Ebony magazine, it became accessible for African Americans to showcase that they, too, could live successful and glamorous lifestyles. In an effort to help gain more exposure for African American fashion designers, Eunice Johnson created the Ebony Fashion Fair, featuring a majority of African American models in designs created by a good selection of African American designers. However, that was not to say that designers like Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy didn’t pop up. Eunice included these designers to further promote the idea that African Americans could wear the same designs as other models and look just as good.
Earlier last week, I had the privilege to go to the “50 Years of Ebony Fashion” exhibit at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, New York, my hometown. Before walking through the exhibit, the museum workers recommend that you watch three short films regarding the history of the Johnsons, as well as the history of the Ebony Fashion Fair. As I began walking through the exhibit, I was amazed at the beauty of the designs. As a fashion lover like myself, its one thing to see designs on a model on runway, but it’s a completely different experience to get to get super close to each design and to see every single bead or stitch that went in to every dress. The coolest thing was to see actual designs from Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy and Karl Lagerfeld and even Alexander McQueen. To see some of my favorite pieces from the exhibit, keep reading!
Photo credit: Natalie BeCoats