Uncovering Our History Through The Relics Left Behind
Posted in Black history, Clothing, and Style
Fashion shows have always been a mainstay in the African American community. Even now, they are still being held as fundraisers for sororities, clubs, churches and other organizations. At auction a few years ago, I…
Posted in Clothing, collectibles, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Women
The American magazines bore such names as Godey’s Lady’s Book, Mme. Demorest’s Mirror of Fashions and Peterson’s Magazine. Within their covers, women of means could see some of the latest styles, many of them representative of French designs. These…
Posted in Clothing, collectibles, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Politics
Frank Rizzo’s presence had long left the house, which exuded a warmth that I did not expect from the abode of a man with such a notorious reputation. During the 1960s and 1970s, Rizzo ran…
I don’t usually look at clothes at auction, but the auctioneer was practically giving away some lovely coats and suits at this one. I could donate them to charity, I pondered, as I listened to…
There was a time, as everyone knows, when you could buy just about anything from a Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog. I was surprised to see, though, that Sears also sold “made -to-order” suits for men.…
At some point, I’m sure, the little girl’s clothes had been neatly folded and lovingly placed in the suitcase. But by the time I came upon them at auction, too many hands had unfolded and…
The metal and wood hangers were the first to catch my eye. One was quite beautiful in its construction – a curved piece of wood attached to thin metal that reminded me of two oversized…
Nice dress. That’s what I thought when I saw the first photo inside one of those lovely paper frames from decades ago in a box at the auction house. The woman wearing the dress stood…
When I stepped into the fashion exhibit room, I was just as struck by the textures and colors as I had been a few moments before by photos of the ancient pages of the manuscripts of…
Posted in Clothing, collectibles, and Personal items
My Big Mama Annie Lee never went to church without white gloves and a white handkerchief. I especially remember her gloves folded over her left hand and on her right arm, the pocketbook where she kept her handkerchief. In…
