This Libguide shares a selection of collections from our archives that are created by or include BIPOC designers and artists. (BIPOC = Black, Indigenous, People of Color.) Notable featured persons include Stephen Burrows, Patrick Kelly, Willi Smith, Norma Kamali, Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Youssef Rizkallah, Jamel Shabazz, Antonio Lopez, and Eric du Juan.
Stephen Gerald Burrows was born on September 15, 1943 in Newark, NJ. He attended the Philadelphia Museum College of Art from 1961-1963 and then attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T) from 1964-1966, where he graduated with a degree in fashion design. Successfully selling his garments to his friends or the "commune" as he referred to them, he co founded "O" Boutique in 1968 on Park Avenue South.Burrows' use of color, color combinations, and fabrics was unheard of at this time. Burrows was influenced by rhythm and dance-inspiring garments with a softer, slimmer silhouette that moved with the body and as a finishing touch, he created the "Lettuce Edge", which is still in use today. In 1970, the fashion industry took notice of Burrows' innovative designs, where he was hired by Henri Bendel and given a boutique named "Stephen Burrows World". In 1973, Burrows was chosen to be a part of a collaborative fashion benefit between the United States and France at the Palace of Versailles, where Burrows and American fashion became an international sensation. Following his success, Burrows received the Coty award in 1973, 1974 and 1977. Burrows later left Bendel to open his own business on seventh avenue, marking his hiatus from the fashion industry until 2002. On February 13th, 2002 "Stephen Burrows World" reopened at Henri Bendel, reintroducing Burrows into the fashion world. In 2006, Burrows received the CFDA's Board of Directors Special Tribute after 40 years as a designer.
This collection contains fashion sketches (originals and digital facsimiles), fashion photographs, and press/promotional materials documenting the career of Stephen Burrows in the fashion industry from 1969-2012. There is a gap of press materials from 1990-2000 when he left Henri Bendel to open his own business on seventh avenue. His fragrance named, Stephen B., is briefly documented in photographs, press, and a silver wave necklace solid perfume. Ephemeral materials such as personal photographs and an E.R.A ribbon are also a part of the collection.
Youssef Rizkallah was an Egyptian fashion designer. He attended the Academy of Arts in Cairo, Egypt for two years and the Ecole de dessin appliqué and the Ecole des arts decoratifs in Paris. After apprenticing with Jacques Griffe for six months, he returned to Cairo in 1954 where he established a couture house under the label Rizkallah. His clients included the Egyptian royal family and wives of the diplomatic corps. In 1963 he emigrated to the United States and worked for Universal Studios in Los Angeles. In 1967 he moved to New York where he joined Malcolm Starr International, and in 1970 he took over the designing for the Malcolm Starr couture collection. With the financial help of Ben Shaw and later Joseph Weinstein, Rizkallah established his own collection under his name. His ready-to-wear lines appeared in Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Bonwit Teller, B. Altman, Lord & Taylor, and others.
This collection is comprised of Youssef Rizkallah's sketches for womenswear and menswear (1956 - 2004).
Jamel Shabazz was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of fifteen he picked up his first camera and started to document his peers. Inspired by photographers Leonard Freed, James Van Der Zee, and Gordon Parks, he was marveled with their documentation of the African American community. In 1980 as a concerned photographer with a clear vision he embarked on a mission to extensively document various aspects of life in New York City, from youth culture to a wide range of social conditions. Due to its spontaneity and uniqueness, the streets and subway system became backdrops for many of his photographs, which have since been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries.
Shabazz has volunteered with a wide range organizations centered on inspiring young people in the field of photography and social responsibility. In addition, he has been a teaching artist with the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, the Bronx Museum’s Teen Council youth program, The International Center of Photography, Friends of the Island Academy, and the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Expanding the Walls Project. He has lectured at the Fashion Institute of Technology, The International Center for Photography, The Brooklyn Historic Foundation, Haverford College and Parsons New School of Design. Shabazz is the author of 5 monographs and has contributed to numerous others.
More information on Shabazz can be found on his website: https://www.jamelshabazzphotographer.com/
SPARC holds fifty color and black and white photographs by Shabazz. Inspired by the photographic documentation of African American communities by James Van Der Zee and Leonard Freed, these photographs represent urban street fashion primarily in Brooklyn and Manhattan between 1980 and 2010. Most photographs have a date and location noted on verso. Locations include Harlem, Soho, Lower East Side, downtown Brooklyn, Flatbush and Ft. Greene.
Nina Hyde was an American fashion editor active in the second half of the twentieth century writing for Women's Wear Daily, The Washington Daily News, and the Washington Post. This collection largely consists of documents about fashion designers, although some famous models and personalities are included, as well as general topics related to fashion.
BIPOC personalities present in the Nina Hyde collection include Issey Miyake, Hanae Mori, Josie Natori, Rifat Ozbek, Prince, Willi Smith, Anna Sui, and more.
Black Rap was an FIT student run publication out of the Student Development office in the 1970s.
The Frances Neady collection of Original Fashion Illustrations is a collection of published illustrations that was established in 1984 to honor its namesake, an inspirational teacher of fashion illustration. The collection encompasses over a century of fashion art. Its earliest example, a watercolor by Pierre Brissaud for Gazette du Bon Ton, is dated 1913; its most recent donation is by Cuban artist Ruben Toledo. Among other stars represented in the collection are Eric (Carl Erickson), René Bouché, Dorothy Hood, George Stavrinos, and Antonio (Lopez).
Antonio Lopez was born in 1943, in Utuado, Puerto Rico. He was the son of a couturier, and moved to New York at the age of eight. He studied at the High School of Industrial Art and the Fashion Institute of Technology. In the early 60's, he worked as a sketch artist on 7th Avenue, until in 1964, he met the designer Charles James, who was to be an enormous influence on him. Antonio worked with James, drawing all the designer's clothes, for a number of years.
In 1969, while on a working trip for Elle Magazine in Paris, he met fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who encouraged him to set up a studio in Paris.
He established himself as the foremost fashion illustrator on both sides of the Atlantic, commissioned by fashion magazines with any regularity during the lean years of the 60's and 70's in many publications including Women's Wear Daily and the New York Times. He died in 1987 at the age of 44.
Yumiko Itoyama is a Japanese hat designer based out of both New York and Tokyo. Itoyama immigrated to New York in 1981, and founded her brand two years later. She returned to Tokyo and founded a business and school in 1989. From 2008-2012, she taught at Tokyo Heisei University Junior college. Her millinery works have appeared in Vogue and WWD, She has also published three books on hat making: Selfish Hat, 1999, To Make a Hat, 2001 and Talkative Hat, 2003.
This collection contains 7 design sheets, 1 sketch, and 2 advertisements related to Yumiko Itoyama's millinery designs.
Born in Tunisia in 1939, Azzedine Alaia lied about his age to gain entry into École des Beaux-Arts in Tunis. In 1957, he relocated to Paris, working initially in the tailoring atelier at Christian Dior and later Guy Laroche and Thierry Mugler. In the 1970s, Alaia opened a small atelier in his Paris apartment, which catered to socialites and celebrities. His first ready-to-wear collection debuted in 1980 and he quickly garnered a reputation for body-conscious silhouettes. Alaia currently lives and works in Paris, where he retails his work via a semi-private retail boutique.
This collection contains three black and white photographs of models showing suits from Azzedine Alaia's Spring 1984 collection.
Founded in 1969 by Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Garçons initially focused on women's denim, growing to over 100 stores in Japan in the 1970s. In 1981, she expanded her company to Paris, where her designs took a turn for the avant garde, in her words “designing from shapeless, abstract, intangible forms, not taking itno account the body." Kawakubo, herself, is not a fashion designer in the traditional sense, instead functioning as the creative director of a close-knit collective who execute her ideas. Other designers to have produced under Comme des Garçons sub-labels include Junya Wantanabe and Kei Ninomiya. In addition to stand-alone retail stores, Comme des Garçons also owns Dover Street Market in five cities around the world, which in addition to Comme des Garçons products, also retail other high-end ready to wear labels.
This collection is comprised of six postcards and four large posters for Comme des Garçons, two of which advertise the firms collaboration designing dance costumes for Merce Cunningham.
Comme des Garçons is a Japanese fashion label founded and headed by Rei Kawakubo in Tokyo and Place Vendôme in Paris.
This collection contains printed Comme des garçons promotion materials dating to circa 1999-2012.
Eleanor Lambert was a prominent fashion publicist active starting in the late 1920s in America until the late 1990s. Her collection at FIT is a treasure trove of press materials, photographs, correspondence, and other documents about a wide array of designers and fashion businesses. A small portion of this collection holds information on BIPOC fashion designers including Stephen Burrows, Hanae Mori, and Adolfo.
The full finding aid can be found here: https://atom-sparc.fitnyc.edu/sc-214
