Options
Curatorial Exhibition Scholarship

Harlem Noire: Fashion Movement, Moment & Memory

Authors
  • Dyese Matthews (The New School)
  • Catherine Kueffer Blumenkamp (Cornell University)
  • Denise Nicole Green (Cornell University)

Abstract

In May 2024, we mounted the physical and digital exhibition Harlem Noire: Fashion Movement, Moment & Memory at Cornell University, inviting visitors to explore and engage with everyday dress practices of six middle-aged and/or elderly Black women in Harlem, New York City. This exhibition explored the intersections of space, place, fashion, and memory by centering Black women’s style narratives during the post-Civil Rights era in the USA. The women’s fashions were situated as the medium through which Harlem is affirmed as a Black fashion place where women assert their role as memory workers and place-makers. 

Keywords: Black women, style narrative geographies, memory work, material culture

How to Cite:

Matthews, D., Blumenkamp, C. K. & Green, D. N., (2025) “Harlem Noire: Fashion Movement, Moment & Memory”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 82(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.21871

Downloads:
Download PDF
View PDF

91 Views

26 Downloads

Published on
2025-12-17

Peer Reviewed

License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0