Style Noir

A fashion writer for French Elle magazine, Nathalie Dolvio, wrote an internet article that has caused controversy & sparked outrage. In her post entitled, "Black Fashion Power," she says African Americans weren't fashionable until the Obamas came into office.  In her opinion, the President & First Lady have given black people in the U.S. a style alternative.  Dolvio wrote: "For the first time, chic has become an option for a community so far plagued to it's streetwear codes."  She calls the First Lady's fashion sense "Black-geoisie," a combination of traditional "white codes"  and accents from the African heritage.  The post has since been removed and French Elle has opoligized for the article.

Of course, I vehemently disagree with the sentiment of this article. I mean, really.  Yes, Michelle Obama is a glamorous first lady.  She was the only first lady since Jackie Kennedy to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine. We, as a people, have always been stylish, fashionable, sharp-dressed men & women.

But this conversation does make me recall looking through old photo albums and seeing pictures of my family, of older generations, dressed so elegantly.  Practically everyone dressed well... men with their hats and women in their gloves & heels. Most of the time they weren't going any place that enforced a dress-code; that's just the way they dressed. Not so long ago, a black man put on a three-piece suit just to take a flight out of town.

Now days, if you're not in a corporate office or at church, you'll hardly ever see a young black man in a suit.  And most young women... "club wear" is the closest they'll come to getting "dressed up."  As I said before, we've always had style.  I think I'd just like to see a lot more of it.