Swamp Dogg at the Rhythm and Blues Program, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, 2011.
Photo by Gabriella Bellegarde
Men styled in the “Black Ivy” aesthetic of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Photo by F. E. Castleberry
Everyone is a dress artist. The choices that we make in the way we dress reflects the cultural and social rules that we live by, our personal taste, and our access to the resources needed to dress in the style to which we aspire. In every community of style, there are exemplars of style who stand out as masters of the arts of dress and body arts. These individuals capture the essence of a community’s ideas of what it is to be well dressed through their artful assembly of their hair, apparel, accessories, and body art. Exemplars of style “curate” their appearance from their own collections of items of dress, their choices of hairstyle, grooming, and other aspects of and personal adornment.
