Fashion is a means of self-expression. We wear what makes us feel comfortable but also what speaks to us. For Black people, however, fashion can equally be an act of defiance against racial injustice.
Many of the mainstream apparel trends you know and love may have been derived from elements of Black culture. Fashion, as it so happens, is fundamental to history. This Black History Month, we should take some time to understand the history of Black fashion and the impact it has on all of us.
Streetwear, emerging in the 1970s, was first pioneered by Black Americans in the South Bronx hip-hop scene. Baggy pants, for example, are one of the styles that became synonymous with Black people at this time.
Hip-hop artists picked up the saggy pants look, but it originated in prisons where belts were neither provided nor permitted, forcing detainees to let their waistbands hang low. The result? A distinct fashion feature that quickly disseminated outside the hip-hop scene.
What first was a simple prison necessity became a symbol of endearment in the eyes of Black people. Saggy pants thrive even today, marking the influence of Black culture.
Famously, Michael Jordan collaborated with Nike in 1985 to create the Air Jordans, spurring a burst of popularity in sneakers among Black people who finally felt represented by a major brand. The baggy-pants-and-sneaker combo is still heavily present in today’s teenage and young adult fashion.
Artists like A$AP Rocky, Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar still rock the look, inspiring the entire industry. Around 34% of Gen-Z sneaker owners in the U.S. now own a pair of Jordans — a testament to the power and popularity of Black fashion.
Invented in 1954 by Dr. Fred Slack Jr., acrylic nails grew increasingly popular among Black women. As Black women pioneered the look with inventive new styles and accessories, acrylic nails were subsequently perceived as low-class and “ghetto,” enforcing stereotypes that Black people who refuse to assimilate to whiteness are unkempt and filthy.
Well-known celebrities such as Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Millie Jackson and Flo Jo donned acrylic sets in various colors, designs and lengths. Black nail culture began to flood the mainstream. This caused people to face their biases about acrylic nails and the Black icons who popularized them, showing the world that Blackness is unique and compelling.
Although not created by Black people, dandyism holds unique ties to the Black community. While it originated in white middle class men seeking social capital, Black people adopted dandyism for themselves, warping the notions attributed to the movement and its symbolism.
Defined by an impossibly groomed and styled attire, Black dandyism became not merely a mode of fashion, but a movement. A means of assimilation turned into an act of defiance, dandyism showed how fashion and race interconnect yet fracture societal standards.
Y2K, a retro-futuristic style defined by bright and metallic colors, logo tracksuits and excessive accessories, was pioneered by black hip-hop and R&B artists like Alicia Keys and Destiny’s Child.
The look became referred to as the pejorative term “Ghetto Fabulous,” a prejudiced critique meant to mock the work of Black artists. However, Y2K remains popularly enjoyed and appreciated across all types of audiences.
Ultimately, erasing Black influence from popular trends allows for the admiration of said trends. “I feel like we, Black people, create a lot of art and pieces that become viral that we never receive credit for,” Keirsten Young, a sophomore integrated marketing major from Jackson, Miss., said. “White creators get the credit and the sponsorships for things that were originally created by Black content creators.”
When divorced from Black bodies, influential fashion movements are appropriated by the cultural mainstream with little appreciation.
Take, for instance, the quarter-zip trend on TikTok. A plethora of Black male users openly abandoned their Nike techs for quarter zip jackets under the belief that Nike techs render someone less respectable — an expectation reinforced by racialized politics.
The resurging insistence on Black professionalism combined with the recent repression of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts (DEI) has heightened the need to assimilate. Although the quarter-zip scenario is just a TikTok trend, it illustrates the prejudice and pressure that are continually levied against Black people.
“I think Black people are professional in their own right, without trends,” Landen Richardson, a senior biomedical engineering major from Clinton, Miss., said.
While fashion has been used to unite and mobilize Black Americans, it also has been weaponized against them to perpetuate certain biases.
“It showcased how entrenched respectability politics is in the Black community,” sophomore Devyne Agulanna said.
Black Americans have, for centuries, been forced to conform to white standards of identity.
Black people have pioneered in many industries, including fashion, but have rarely been given credit for it. It’s worth really thinking about how far Black people have come but also how agonizingly far we have yet to reach.
Lamarcus Lenoir is a sophomore English major from Tupelo, Miss.
