Designers who Shaped Fashion History
Updated February 20, 2024
By Tyshca Nicole
Despite working in an industry that was overwhelmingly white and focused on Europe, Black designers and pioneers like Stephen Burrows and Zelda Wynn Valdes were able to carve out a niche for themselves. Even in the modern day, Black designers are making waves in the fashion business and spreading the word about Black potential. Before we end 2023, we want to pay homage to those who fought hard for the Black community to have a voice in the fashion industry.
Ruby Bailey
A member of the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers (NAFAD), Ruby Bailey was a contemporarily associated woman with Valdes. The Museum of the City of New York states that the artist and fashion designer, who was born in Bermuda, played a significant role in Harlem's social and creative landscape through her work with print, color, and ornamentation.
Zelda Wynn Valdes
Racial segregation was an everyday part of life for Zelda Wynn Valdes, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1905. She started off as a stockroom assistant and worked her way up to seamstress. When Valdes was at the height of her fame, she dressed Ella Fitzgerald and Maria Cole (wife of Nat King Cole). In 1948, the same year that she launched her own boutique, she also created Cole's iconic off-the-shoulder wedding dress.
Jay Jaxon
French couture trailblazer Jay Jaxon was an employee of illustrious Parisian fashion businesses such as Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent, where he designed both couture and ready-to-wear. His designs for musicians and entertainers, including Annie Lennox's outfit for the 1984 Grammy Awards, made an impression everywhere from the cobblestoned streets of Paris to the streets of his home city of New York.
Ann Lowe
Ann Lowe made history as the first African American to achieve moderate celebrity status as a fashion designer. Women in the upper class sported Lowe's one-of-a-kind creations from the 1920s through the 1960s. At the end of the day, Lowe produced one of the most iconic wedding gowns ever—the ivory silk taffeta number that Jacqueline Bouvier wore to her 1953 nuptials to John F. Kennedy. The press and the First Lady both failed to give Lowe the recognition she deserved due to her race. The Metropolitan Museum of Art now features Lowe's art, and her 1968 Madison Avenue boutique, Ann Lowe Originals, was there first.
Elizabeth Keckley
Elizabeth Keckley, a former Virginia-born slave, became Mary Todd Lincoln's personal dressmaker and close friend in the 1860s. Although her path to the White House was difficult, Keckley eventually purchased her independence from her St. Louis masters and established herself as a skilled seamstress for the most powerful women in Washington, D.C., as well as a civil activist and novelist.
Willi Smith
Willi Smith was regarded as the founder of streetwear and one of the most prominent African-American designers in the fashion business at the time of his death in 1987. According to The Guardian, his 1976 label, WilliWear Limited, made more than $25 million in sales by 1986. Smith's accessibility and affordability of apparel helped democratize fashion, inspired by the fashion he witnessed on the streets as well as his ambition to mold it.