In 2020, The Black Panthers' Powerful & Political Style Is Everywhere
Photo by David Fenton/Getty Images
Between the pandemic and countless protests, this year has forced the world to re-examine its politics and values, and the fashion community is no exception. Just last month for SS21, Louis Vuitton sent a clear message down the catwalk about the power of American democracy with its 'Vote' sweatshirts, and this year's virtual Emmys saw a number of celebrities honour the victims of police brutality with their bold beauty choices, like Yvonne Orji, who had the Black Power fist etched into her cropped hair. Fashion has always been political, though, and what people wear is often considered an extension and expression of their beliefs. No political group has quite understood the power of fashion like the Black Panther Party. Established in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton, the Black Panthers' aesthetic has long been admired, and for good reason. The party was born at a time of worldwide revolution and while the Chicano Movement fought for the rights of Mexican Americans and protests against the Vietnam War took place, the Black Panthers were gaining recognition – for both their political message and their style. "The Black Panther Party were and still are a power image and statement of Black culture," Taniqua Russ, host of the Black Fashion History podcast, tells Refinery29. Popularising phrases like "Black is beautiful", the party was intentional in redefining Blackness outside of the white gaze. For Taniqua, it wasn't only a return to the origins of the Black identity but "a proverbial middle finger to white America". By wearing dashikis and traditional Kente cloths, members of the movement were able to express their allegiance to the motherland, Africa, and in the same vein disassociate themselves from the Western world. These practices helped the Black community "embrace African fashion as the symbol of pride and rejection of European standards of beauty," Taniqua adds. They spoke to the Black community's dissatisfaction with the American government, who had continuously brutalised them and ignored them, and their style helped them in their mission to dismantle the image the world had come to identify as 'the Black American'.Photo Via @mikeyreed_photo
Taniqua, also a content creator and entrepreneur, explains that although the Black Panthers' style was new and exciting, it was also a point of contention for the Black community. "On one hand, we had leaders who championed dressing in our 'Sunday best' to change the way African Americans were viewed. Other leaders said forget the establishment, and this created a militant connotation for the Panthers."
While the civil rights movement used more subdued fashion to show that they were reputable citizens, the Panthers' bold style was for the sake of empowerment. Practices like wearing African materials were an essential reminder to the community of their origin, and the influence of these garments is still being seen today. In 2018, social media feeds were flooded with images of people dressed in Ankara prints, traditional headwraps and beaded jewellery as they went to watch Marvel's record-breaking Black Panther. For Black people worldwide, this moment became a reaffirmation of our appreciation of Africa and a celebration of our roots in a way that was reminiscent of the pan-African movement of the 20th century.
Other stylistic practices like the wearing of the afro were symbolic of the liberation the Panthers were fighting for and sent the message that their focus wasn't respectability but freedom. By embracing their natural hair, the Panthers were telling the world that they were no longer choosing to assimilate but showcasing their Blackness in its most natural form.
A similar wave has resurfaced over the last 10 years, with the natural hair movement encouraging Black women everywhere to adopt an afro-friendly approach to haircare. Research carried out in 2018 showed that Black women in the US are now more likely to wear their hair naturally, saying that it makes them feel beautiful. Refinery29 UK's staff writer Jessica Morgan tells me that wearing her natural hair allows her to walk unapologetically in her whole self. "It's taken me a long time to break the shackles and learn to love my natural hair, only because everything I see tells me that Black hair is ugly," she says. Thanks to Instagram pages like @naturalhairloving and @kinkyhairrocks, we've been able to see the versatility and beauty of natural hair.This expression of Black identity was the first of its kind and, like the uniform of the party, a demonstration of their commitment to reform. From the Free Breakfast for School Children programme to classes on politics and economics, the Panthers dedicated themselves to creating the change the government was failing to. Their head-to-toe black ensemble – featuring berets, sunglasses, turtlenecks and leather outwear – sent a clear message that they were unwavering in their stance and would take matters into their own hands if necessary. "Power. Radicalisation. Change. Hope. One image can speak a thousand words," says Jessica of the Black Panther Party uniform and what it represents. Taniqua adds that the uniform has impacted Black fashion for the better: "We now view afros and the all-black get-up with the beret as a symbol of power and a deep love for our community… The Black Panther Party encompassed everything that Black communities needed." It's translating to sales, too: according to shopping platform Lyst, searches for berets are up 41% week-on-week this season.
In what has been one of the most politically exhausting years of the 21st century, more and more people are adopting this aesthetic to express themselves and their frustrations. Ade, a lone wolf activist, has been to countless protests this year and each time has opted to replicate the Black Panther Party style with her own twist. "Sometimes, I like to have art drawn on my face, it reminds me of where I come from in the motherland, Nigeria," she tells me. A model and prominent speaker for many protest groups, Ade has adopted this style because of the message it sends about her, as well as others who join her in this form of protest. "When I see others dressed like me, I see how confident they are in expressing themselves. It makes me feel strong, fierce and bold," she continues. Jessica also took to the streets in head-to-toe black and a beret to protest this year, and agrees that fashion can speak volumes. "Black signifies resistance without having to say anything. My outfit was a symbol of the Black community's struggles and hardships everywhere. It was a nod to my peers to say, 'I see you, I feel you, I got you'."
In August, the protest group Forever Family Force marched in Brixton in all-black, complete with berets and bulletproof vests. Model Adwoa Aboah covered the September issue of British Vogue sporting her natural hair, a leather midi skirt and a black beret, and who can forget Beyoncé's legendary Super Bowl performance in 2016? A turnout that didn't just reference the Black Panthers but served as a bold demonstration, forcing the world to look back at how far it's come (or how little it's moved forward) in terms of race relations. "Take Naomi Osaka's masks at the US Open," says Jessica, pointing to this summer's Black Lives Matter protests across the world. "She chose to wear a Breonna Taylor face mask: a clear statement and tribute. Lewis Hamilton wore a Black Lives Matter T-shirt and helmet at F1, while Alesha Dixon wore a BLM necklace on Britain's Got Talent. What you choose to wear can send a clear message without any words leaving your mouth."Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
It's clear that the legacy of the Black Panther Party's politics and choice of attire still resonates today. The way they mobilised simple items of clothing for their cause is testament to the power of fashion and their celebration of self-expression via aesthetics rings just as true now as it did then.
Sunday's Best: The Evolution Of The Black Lady Church Hat
Imagine it's Easter Sunday: You walk through the church doors to a rainbow of bold extraordinary hats painted throughout the pews. As you find a seat, hints of cocoa and shea butter tingle your nose, and before you sit down someone has already handed you a program and welcomed you into the sanctuary.
The Black women's church aesthetic has always centered hats and over time they have developed from patterned headwraps to elaborate wide-brimmed beauties.
The evolution of church hat style evolved from African cultures to fashion icons like Madam C.J. Walker and now to second-generation milliners, designers and makers of women's hats, like Meeka Robinson Davis of One-Of-A-Kind Hats.
"Hats have been a rich part of African women's culture. We have always had this feeling of expressing ourselves through dress and a part of that has been hats. A well-dressed lady has always had on a hat," Robinson Davis told Reckon.
But when did the tradition begin, and how has it evolved over the course of history?
It all started in the Motherland
On some occasions, headwraps were indicators of women's marital status, a sign of respect when visiting their in-laws and as well as protection from the sun.Getty Images
The history of Black women and headwear can be traced back to the early 1700s in sub-Saharan Africa and quickly became a staple for African women representing communal identity and individuality.
Whether it was Nubian women adding rich fabrics and flowers to their head wraps or Nigerian queens choosing finer fabrics for lightweight pieces, Black women, particularly in parts of West Africa have expressed their beauty and style through hats and head wraps for hundreds of years.
On some occasions, headwraps were indicators of women's marital status, a sign of respect when visiting their in-laws and as well as protection from the sun.
One hat and two occasions
Enslaved Black men and women on the steps of the Florida Club, St. Augustine, mid 19th Century.
The highly respected headwraps designed from the creativity of Black women in Africa were given a different meaning in America, one of subservience. Enslaved Black women in America were expected to abide by a dress code where the only acceptable headpiece was the 'negro cloth.'
Under the 1735 Negro Act dictating what enslaved Africans in America were and weren't permitted to wear, the 'negro cloth,' consisting of materials like duffels, kerseys, osnaburg, blue linen, coarse calicoes, checked cotton or scotch plaids reinforced social distinctions among enslaved Africans in America and enslavers.
Headwraps labeled as the 'negro cloth' and straw/burlap hats soon became multi-functional as a way to protect Black women's heads and hair from the sun and as a way to show reverence and honor to God.
Enslavers purposefully used the Bible to manipulate and indoctrinate enslaved Africans in America with white Christian nationalism ideology through an array of scriptures. To enforce obedience to the 'negro cloth' and other headwear, they leaned into scripture from Paul the Apostle in Corinthians:
"For this reason, and because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority."
A symbol of success
Madam C.J. Walker at the wheel of her Model T. Ford with her niece Anjetta Breedlove, bookkeeper Lucy Flint and factory forelady Alice Kelly.
After the Reconstruction era and into the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, Black women, particularly in the middle class, created an aesthetic and style of hats with bold colors, wide brims, lace, rhinestones and large feathers.
The more detailed and elaborate the design, the more it symbolized success and an affluent lifestyle – these hats were worn in speakeasies and even churches. This era also produced Black milliners, like Mildred Blount, who created hats for the movie Gone With The Wind and actress Joan Crawford.
Respectability politics, but make it fashion
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, in Washington, D.C. On April 5, 1966.
During the Civil Rights Era, what many Black folks wore to church is also what they wore to protest, from Black men in three-piece suits and dress shoes to Black women with white dresses or dress suits and a hat, cocked to the side for shade and style.
A lot of hats, and especially the fashion choices from this time, weren't only worn for church but also as a form of assimilation into a white world that integration had created space for.
Members of the congregation wear 'Keep the Faith, Baby' sashes to an African-American church meeting in 1967.
Black leaders during the Civil Rights movement dressed in the style of what whiteness had established as acceptable at the time. This was also a strategic calculation. Civil rights leaders wanted protestors dressed in their 'Sunday's best' fashion, to juxtapose civility with the violence they would face from police while exercising their First Amendment rights.
Hats designed with fewer details, muted colors and flatter shapes were viewed as more socially acceptable.
Church service in Woodville, Georgia, in October 1941.
"If they were going to be these leaders and speak in these spaces that were very white, for them to be heard, they dressed in a very specific way that allowed the information to be digested," Darnell-Jamal Lisby, a fashion historian and curator told Refinery29 in September 2020.
Does this match?
Divas Fashion Inc. In downtown Los Angeles in 2012.
Matching a white hat to a white dress suit for communion Sunday or a purple hat to a purple dress suit for Easter Sunday became the norm from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Similar embellishments of feathers, rhinestones and ribbons from the Harlem Renaissance were again a popular part of hat designs during this time.
Southern women in their church hats set the trend — Craig Mayberry, author of Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats, produced a timeless Black household book featuring images and stories about the importance of church hats to hundreds of Black women.
Minister Brian Murray posing with dressed congregants, some wearing matching hats, at Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland in 1995.
"Church ladies have always been couture, avant-garde and out of the box. We've led fashion over the years because we dress every week and we don't follow fashion trends. We set the trends and so a lot of your first ladies also set the tone for their churches," Robinson Davis, the hatmaker said.
The girlies want a headband
A fascinator style hat from One-Of-A-Kind Hat.
Black women will never stop wearing hats, whether to church or out and about. This year the church hat style, according to Robinson Davis, will be fascinators emulating the British headband aesthetic.
"They're doing a lot of those styles because they're easy to wear with a pantsuit or a dress and it's really cute and it's easy to be worn and it doesn't mess up your hair," Robinson Davis told Reckon.
With a modern look and minimalistic approach to hats, the 2020 era of Black women's headwear will emulate simplicity.
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It's Time To Address The Emily In The Room
Emily Oberg, 29, the founder of the brand Sporty and Rich, said that Emily was always the nice girl in movies. "It's not a villain name," she said.
For the last four years, Ms. Oberg has been living in Los Angeles and Paris, where she said she gets "Emily in Paris" associations all the time. "I think it's cute," she said. "It's a funny show." (Netflix has said that Emily Cooper's name "is supposed to be pronounced with a French accent so 'Emily' and 'Paris' rhyme"; the show's creator, Darren Star, did not respond to requests for comment.)
Maybe you fell in love with an Emily, and the name makes you swoon. Maybe an Emily broke your heart, and hearing the name stings. Or maybe you're an Emilia who has been called Emily your entire life by mistake — now even more frequently thanks to autocorrect — and you've come to resent it a bit as a result.
Ask an Emily, though, and many will tell you they've never met an Emily they didn't like, as no fewer than five interviewed for this article did. (Emily Blunt declined to comment; Ms. Ratajkowski and Emily Weiss, the founder of Glossier, did not respond to requests for comment.)
Emily Oster, 43, an economist and writer whose work often focuses on parenting, said she thinks of Emily as a name for people who are going to be friendly. "You're not going to have a difficult phone call with an Emily," said Ms. Oster, who lives in Providence, R.I. She added, "To be clear, I don't think this particularly overlaps in my personality."
Nice, of course, can sometimes be a substitute for another word — boring — which is how Emily Dawn Long, 32, a fashion designer in New York, felt about her name when she was younger. "Growing up, I was never like, I have a really rad name!" Ms. Long said. She first met Ms. Bode Aujla, her fellow fashion designer, at a vintage clothing show when someone called out, "Emily," and both women emerged from separate dressing rooms.
