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Article: How Black style became beautiful; fashion historian Michael Henry Adams offers a few lesser-known details highlighting more than 100 years of Black excellence in fashion.(BLACKS IN FASHION)
- Article from:
- Ebony
- Article date:
- September 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Johnson Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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1863
So gifted is Virginia-born Elizabeth Keckley with a needle and as designer that less than 20 years after buying her freedom from slavery and starting a thriving dressmaking business in Washington, she is chosen as first lady Mary Lincoln's seamstress.
1948
Zelda Wynn Valdes starts the first Black-owned store on Broadway in New York, selling her sexy, hip-hugging dresses to Black legends such as movie star Dorothy Dandridge, opera diva Jessye Norman and singer Gladys Knight. She creates the Playboy bunny costume in the 1950s.
1973
Often outrageously revealing, Scott Barrie's evening wear, made from clinging jersey, makes ...