'In the News' is coming to The Fashion and Race Database.
Our newest editorial addition, 'Fashioning Black Chorus Girls,' 'Fashioning Black Masculinity,' and the 'Durag Assembly.'
Hello everyone,
This week’s letter reintroduces you to a brilliant essay that examines the hidden, high-kicking glamour girls of the Roaring Twenties, Kai provides a reading list on Black masculinity and the power of self-fashioning, and if you have time today, we invite you to catch a virtual event that features durag-themed performances at the Museum of Arts and Design.
But first, I have an announcement…
Our new editorial section, coming April 23: ‘In the News’
I’m thrilled to share with you that our editorial content is expanding. Since last year, I had envisioned The Fashion and Race Database as a key information resource that not only addressed history and provided academic-related material, but would also keep you in step with current events. Specifically, the one thing we have been lacking at the database is information that circulates in the news and what we are talking about everyday. So, this Friday, April 23, I am excited to pilot and co-publish a new bi-weekly news column with FRD Content Editor Anthony Palliparambil, Jr. entitled, ‘In the News.’ The column will consist of a curated roundup of headlines by contributor Anu Lingala, as she goes deep, drawing connections between the news and global affairs with our unique library of resources and essays to contextualize what we are experiencing. Stay tuned!
Essay: ‘Fashioning the Black Chorus Girl’
This past year, we published several critical and illuminating essays from writers of color, and one of those pieces came from scholar Es-pranza Humphrey. We are revisiting this piece in case you haven’t already read it, entitled, ‘Fashioning the Black Chorus Girl,’ which you can find in our ‘Essays & Opinion’ section.
What are the aesthetic associations of the chorus girl and showgirl? Parading across the stage in flamboyant costume while high-kicking, singing, and dancing as the audience erupts in applause for the talented beauty that presents itself before them. This imagery summons the thought of dazzling White beauty, especially in the historic sense when Black and White entertainment spaces were segregated by de facto and de jure practices. So, how did Black chorus girls claim a “Black is beautiful” aesthetic before the phrase even came into the vernacular? Through intellect, through performance, and most importantly, through fashion.
Es-pranza Humphrey is a historian of Black studies and museum educator based out of New York. She received her BA in History from the University of New Haven and her MA in American Studies from Columbia University. Her research has incorporated interdisciplinary approaches to spotlight the Black feminine identity expressed through various forms of performance art. Her latest research endeavors focus on the history of fashion as activism for Black women.
From The Library: ‘Fashioning Black Masculinity’
This week, FRD Research Assistant Kai Marcel is complementing their previous ‘Fashioning Black Femininity’ reading list with an exploration through our library of sources on Black masculinity. Here’s what Kai has to say:
While gender and fashion are distinct from one another, their abilities to signify, reflect, and shape each other are significant and often important sites of cultural meaning and definition. Similarly, the intersectionality of both racialization and gendering as sociocultural practices inform one another so that the knowledge associated with either subjectivity overlap, like a palimpsest, with layers of new and nuanced meaning being created all the time. This list of sources explores the intersection of Blackness, fashion, and masculinity. Through their research and analysis, the authors featured in this list contextualize Black masculinity as a discursive entity and investigate the ways it has been shaped and dominated by hegemonic institutions, but also the ways Black men and masc people have used the radical practice of self-fashioning to define themselves in spite of systems that have been built on their exclusion.
Dandy Lion: The Black Dandy and Street Style by Shantrelle P. Lewis (Book)
Straight Black Queer: Obama, Code- Switching, and the Gender Anxiety of African American Men by Vershawn Ashanti Young (Article)
Stylin’: The Great Masculine Enunciation and the (Re)Fashioning of African Diasporic Identities by Christine Checinska (Article)
From Jay-Z to Dead Prez: Examining Representations of Black Masculinity in Mainstream Versus Underground Hip-Hop Music by Crystal Belle (Article)
Vintage Black Glamour: Gentleman’s Quarters by Nichelle Gainer (Book)
‘The Library’ and the ‘Reading List’ is where we collect and organize countless educational sources all in one place. Referenced by educators, students, fashion enthusiasts and curious minds, this multi-faceted repository provides an expanding selection of tools for learning about all matters connected to fashion, appearance, power and the impact of ‘race.’
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The Calendar: ‘Online Learning Lab: Durag Assembly’ (April 20)
From the Museum of Art and Design:
Join us for a Durag Assembly! Together we will explore themes within and inspired by the monumental durag installation created by MAD’s 2019 Artist Fellow Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola for the exhibition Local Import. Akinbola and a lineup of special guests, including fashion researcher and podcast host Taniqua Russ and creators Soull & Dynasty Ogun of L’Enchanteur, will discuss the history of the durag, its cultural relevance, and how the durag continues to serve as inspiration for creatives.
During this rapid-fire virtual event, we’ll showcase durag-themed performances by spoken word poet Ashia Ajani and multidisciplinary DJ Devoye, travel down social media’s memory lane to celebrate the top five #DuragHistoryWeek moments with multimedia journalist Ezinne Ukoha, and engage in an interactive audience poll and Q&A.
This event is guest curated and moderated by Souleo.
Closed captioning will be provided.
You can learn more about this event and register to attend by visiting our page in The Calendar.
A global network of events, conversations and opportunities will continue to evolve the discourse on fashion and race. ‘The Calendar’ remains on the pulse and keeps you looped in.
That’s it for now. Please stay safe and we’ll see you next week.
Yours in service and solidarity,
Kim Jenkins
The Fashion and Race Database Team: Rachel Kinnard, Daniela Hernandez, Kai Marcel, Laura Beltrán-Rubio and Anthony Palliparambil, Jr.