“I’m always thinking about Harlem, and how it serves as a creative portal,” said Miller, the guest curator for the upcoming exhibit. She began the evening’s conversation by detailing the nuances of the show’s key subject—the Black dandy—and how it relates to Harlem’s sartorial heyday. Miller shared images of clothing and artifacts created by Black menswear designers that will be featured inside the museum’s galleries, including a 19th-century-inspired Harlequin print-patterned overcoat and pants designed by Tremaine Emory of Denim Tears, and a vintage portrait of an impeccably tailored Frederick Douglass, dressed in a sharp-collared white dress shirt, ascot, and double-breasted suit.
Inside the theater’s quiet and dimly lit auditorium, guests paid close attention to McCrory, who echoed Miller’s sentiments about the exhibit’s theme. McCrory’s assertion that Black male dandyism can be equated to a caterpillar transforming into butterfly, inspired explosive applause.
“It’s an important nexus that we’re in—society-wise—and our clothing allows us to create protection to be radically soft in a brittle world that wants us to be hard. And I believe we can build a world that’s more feminine than masculine, which allows for the softness of a creative birthing channel,” McCroy added.