Eleganza: Fashioning a Creative Community at Harvard

Fashion is an integral part of so many people’s lives, and Eleganza helps to show that there is a space at Harvard for people who value fashion. The show takes place during Visitas each year, and it helps expose incoming freshmen to the amazing creative community that exists at this institution.

Why Are There So Few Black Fashion Designers at the Oscars?

Uplifting and supporting fashion designers of color means creating more opportunities for all marginalized people to utilize clothing to define their place in the world.

Black is Beautiful: The Legacy of Kwame Brathwaite

My first exposure to Kwame Brathwaite’s work was in 2019 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston as part of an exhibit titled “Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography.” A black wall was printed with the words “Black Is Beautiful,” occupying the entire space from floor-to-ceiling. Before attending this exhibit, I had known nothing about the photographer, but the striking photographs (and the impact of the slogan I had heard hundreds of times before) prompted an ongoing interest in his work.

Black is Beautiful: The Legacy of Kwame Brathwaite

Black, Queer, Alternative Style at Harvard

For Black and queer people, subcultural identification and its accompanying alternative aesthetics can be a means of finding agency and community when society-at-large makes it difficult to do so.

Patrick Kelly’s Joyful Black Dresses

A typical Patrick Kelly fashion show turns the runway into a nightclub. Models dance down the runway in tight dresses — small, simple pieces made grand by the addition of whimsical adornments.

A Brief History of Black in Fashion

Though personally, I love black, it is sometimes almost too reliable. Black may complete a wardrobe, but we mustn’t neglect color altogether. The uniformity afforded by black tie is nice, but imagine a wedding where all the guests are in vivid, ornate brocade robes. Black is clean and convenient, but color is also beautiful, and I believe the key to fashion lies in embracing both.