Adorning adversaries, affecting avenues: African American women's impact on adornment and fashion design in Washington, DC, 1880--1950

Most historians have ignored the contributions of African American women as designers. Yet, dressmakers, seamstresses, modistes, milliners, and hairdressers have historically been integral to the African American community and held a special status. Many were revered for their exceptional skills in design which allowed them to become entrepreneurs and supplement their incomes. These skills yielded them power to create identities for themselves and those around them. They created outer skins to deflect intense oppression from outside their communities and to solidify their status within.; In Washington, D.C., African American designers rose through the ranks of womanhood embracing their own concepts of beauty, traditional adornment, and corporeal differences. They were challenged with the task of outfitting a new outlook for their community. Washington designers enhanced the exterior of the African American community while strengthening the inner spirit of a people who have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. These women prevailed using a vigor expressed through creative insight.; This study examines the late nineteenth and early twentieth century African American designer and her role in the American fashion industry. Chapter 1 examines literature written about African American women's dress and adornment during this time period. Chapter 2 reviews the African "memory" and the cultural continuum inherent in African Americans that was displayed through design in dress, adornment, and beauty. In Chapter 3, the critical role and importance of the African American seamstress as a designer within the African American community and the outside society is analyzed. Chapter 4 discusses corporal and sartorial restrictions placed on African American women and how the African American designers challenged these limitations. Chapter 5 assesses the African American designer's impact in Washington, D.C., from the 1880s to 1950s.; African American women were more than just spectators; they were active participants in shaping American fashion. More importantly, they were the designers who fashioned African American respectability. Memories of African cultural continuities, scars of slavery, racial unrest, and the promise of freedom combined to allow African American designers to construct the type of freedom for themselves that their reality forbade.