African Americans have participated in the fashion industry in various roles, including as designers, dressmakers, seamstresses and influencers.

They have found ways to build spaces for their creative expressions, even when they have faced intensively challenging circumstances such as prejudices and discrimination based on race, gender and classism.

Each week during September, the National Museum of African American History and Culture recognizes the contributions of four key figures in fashion; Ophelia DeVore, Arthur McGee, Willi Smith and Zelda Wynn Valdes.

Willi Smith - WilliWear 
(1948 - 1987) 

Willi Smith was recognized for his groundbreaking innovations in sportswear. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from an early age, he demonstrated an affinity for the arts, especially fashion and drawing.  As a result, Smith went on to study fashion illustration at the Philadelphia College of Art. 

Smith’s grandmother, Gladys “Nana” Bush, was a housekeeper who worked for designer Arnold Scaasi. Nurturing her grandson’s love for fashion, she organized an internship for Smith with Scaasi. Under Scaasi’s leadership, Smith learned about the technical aspects of design and worked as Scaasi’s assistant for A-list celebrity clientele. 

After high school Smith moved to New York City to study fashion design at Parsons until he left in 1967. Afterwards, Smith began working as lead designer for Digits, a junior sportswear label. In 1972, his work with Digits was nominated for a COTY American Fashion Critics award. And in 1983, Smith received his first COTY American Fashion Critics award.

By 1976, Smith created WilliWear Ltd, a sportswear line that revolutionized the fashion industry by merging quality fashion and affordability. WilliWear  became the most successful fashion line by an African American designer. His streetwear designs garnered mainstream support because they appealed to people who were seeking comfortable and stylish clothes that could be worn for a variety of occasions. A hallmark of Smith’s vision was that flattering silhouettes in quality fabrics should be accessible to everyone and not just those wealthy enough to afford luxury brands.  

The mainstream success of WilliWear continued as Smith increased the brand’s marketability. He collaborated with other artists and created new visions of fashion by merging fashion with visual art, film, and performance.  

Smith passed away unexpectedly in 1987. At the time of his death, WilliWear was generating approximately $25 million in annual revenue sales.  Smith’s longtime business partner, Laurie Mallet continued with the company using other designers to create collections. Smith was such an integral part of the company that by 1990, the brand was forced to close. Mallet tried to revive the company in 1996 but was unable to sustain sales and production.  Willi Smith’s fashion legacy is evident in the fashion industry as numerous fashion houses continue to incorporate the culture of streetwear into their luxury brands.

Zelda Wynn Valdes  
(1905-2001) 

A native of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Zelda Wynn Valdes was a costume and fashion designer.  She was reared in a rural working-class community. Her father was a cook, and her mother was a homemaker. As a young child, Wynn observed her mother and grandmother who were both highly skilled dressmakers and it sparked a passion for dressmaking. After learning to sew, she created a beautifully tailored dress for her grandmother. 

In addition to her talents as a dressmaker, Wynn was also a trained classical pianist. She graduated from the Catholic Conservatory of Music in the 1920’s. Afterwards, she and her family moved to White Plains, NY where she began working in her uncle’s tailoring shop. She later became employed as a stock worker at an up-scale boutique which led to jobs as a salesperson and tailor.  

Working at the boutique had its challenges, but Wynn continued to expand her technical skills and abilities. As a result, more customers became aware of her talents and began to approach her for her artistic designs.

By 1948, Wynn had opened her own business, Zelda Wynn  on Broadway in New York City. She began designing for socialites and celebrities alike, including Josephine Baker, Eartha Kitt, Mae West, Ella Fitzgerald, Dorothy Dandridge, and Edna Mae Robinson. During this time Wynn and other African American designers found it difficult to gain access to the resources of the fashion industry, which was an exclusive organization of wealthy whites.  In 1949 she became president of the National Association of Fashion and Accessories Designers (NAFAD), which had been founded by the Jeanetta Welch Brown and Mary McLeod Bethune that same year. This trade association supported black fashion professionals with networking, responding to discrimination at work and in general, helping them navigate the fashion industry. 

Zelda Wynn continued to make strides in fashion, developing a reputation as a leading designer. Her work eventually drew the attention of Hugh Hefner, owner of the Playboy empire that included a chain of national supper clubs that catered to men. Wynn has been credited with designing the first Playboy Bunny costumes worn by the waitresses at the clubs. The historical evidence seems to indicate that multiple people were involved in the design of the costume. What can be confirmed is that Wynn and her staff manufactured some of the costumes, which may have contributed to the story that she designed the first costumes.  Wynn used her contact with Hefner to produce several fashion shows at the Playboy Club, billed as “Zelda at the Playboy.”  

Beginning in the 1970’s, Wynn worked as the lead costume designer for the famed Dance Theatre of Harlem, spearheaded by Arthur Mitchell. Her roles (designing costumes, touring with the group, and selling posters) demonstrated her dedication and support for the Dance Theater of Harlem. It was a commitment that continued until her death in 2001. 

Arthur McGee  
(March 25, 1933-July 1, 2019) 

Arthur McGee saw himself as a designer and not a black designer.  He said, “as soon as you categorize us, you can erase us.”  

McGee was a trailblazer in the world of fashion and his contributions to fashion cannot be erased. In the mid-1950s he was the first African American to operate the design room of a major manufacturer, (Bobby Brooks) on Seventh Ave. Further, his contributions continue to live on through other designers of color whom he mentored, like Dr. Aziza Braithwaithe Bey. She credits him with teaching her important design skills, but most importantly helping her to learn how to navigate an industry that was inhospitable to Blacks.  

Arthur McGee was born in Detroit, MI. His father, George, was a highway construction worker and his mother, Rose, was a skilled dressmaker.  McGee admired his mother’s style, her ability to create any type of garment and to make her own patterns from newspaper.  She also loved hats and by the time McGee was 15, he was designing hats for her.  

At the age of 18, he won a design competition and scholarship from Traphagen School of Fashion in New York and relocated to the city. He later attended the Fashion Institute of Technology’s millinery department for about six months. He left after being told that there was no place for black designers in the workplace.  

During the 1950s and 1960s he had a successful career as a designer. This was true even though he constantly faced racism and exclusion in an industry where he was one of only a few African American designers.  In the 1960s he opened his own shop on one of America’s most popular streets—St. Marks Place in New York.  

His designs had a national appeal. According to Dr. Aziza Bey, McGee lived and worked in Miami during the 1970s. Alba Sanjurjo affirmed that she and McGee were in Florida and had a thriving business during that time. They created affordable kimono-sleeve shirts made of African fabrics. At least one of his labels (Me and McGee for Alba) reflects that partnership. 

His clientele included Stevie Wonder, Cicely Tyson, Arthur Mitchell, Dexter Gordon, and Lena Horne.  The pioneer designer also mentored other emerging designers like Willi Smith, Scott Barrie and B Michael.  

Regardless of the racial challenges and dismissals that he faced in the fashion industry, McGee described his passion and his commitment to creative expression thusly, “…when you love fashion, you do it, no matter what.”  

Ophelia DeVore 
(1922-2014) 

Ophelia DeVore was a native of Edgefield, SC. In 1933 she relocated to New York City. She attended and graduated from Hunter College High School. DeVore attended New York   University where she studied mathematics and languages.   

She also attended the Vogue Modeling School, which was unrelated to Vogue magazine. Afterwards she became one of America’s first African American models of note, a prominent businesswoman, newspaper publisher, and a pioneer in the modern beauty business. Her modeling career was brief, from the late-1930s to the mid-1940s.  

In 1946, she and a group of friends established Grace Del Marco Modeling Agency, a company created to train models of color.  Two years later, she bought the business from her partners and established the Ophelia DeVore School of Self-Development and Modeling, which she ran for more than 60 years. In addition to the modeling agency, she also ran the Ophelia DeVore School of Charm and founded Ophelia DeVore cosmetics.   

Around 1955, she and Ralph Cooper hosted an ABC-TV television show in New York. Cooper was also the producer. The one-hour show, “Spotlight on Harlem” featured talent, beauty and fashion. It was the first television program produced by and for African Americans in New York. 

By 1959, she had expanded her influence and was having a global presence in Europe. One of her models, Cecilia Cooper won the Miss Festival beauty contest at the Cannes Film Festival.  It was the first time that an American had won the contest. The following year, another DeVore model, LeJeune Hundley won the title. 

DeVore believed that in order for her to make positive changes in society she needed to be involved at the macro level. She served as a consultant to some of America’s Fortune 500 companies.  These included Pepsi-Cola, Revlon, Coca-Cola, General Foods, Anheuser-Busch, and United and American Airlines. She encouraged and assisted them with developing advertisements that used African American models to promote their products and services. And from 1985 to 1993 she served as a Presidential appointee to the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. 

Several African American celebrities began their careers with her agency including, Cicely Tyson, Richard Roundtree, Diahann Carroll, and Helen Williams. During the 1950s and 1960s Williams was the most successful Black American model, appearing in ads for Kodak and Bulova. 

Ophelia DeVore’s vision was to change the negative standards of beauty that excluded Blacks and people of color. She worked to establish a more inclusive and global standard that provided new opportunities for African American and other models within the fashion industry. Further, she maintained an acute awareness of the importance of responding to the needs of the African American community and maximizing the power of the Black dollar in a global economy.