Black Fashion, Beauty and Culture Scholars to Follow

We’re taking notes, literally.

As a fashion and beauty publication, the very least we can do is use our platform — today and everyday — to amplify the voices of the many talented Black people who make this industry what it is. 

In addition to resources on Black creatives to follow in the fashion industry, we’re sharing a list of Black scholars in the fields of fashion, beauty and culture. Add their works into your curriculum, buy one of their books, hit up one of their exhibitions, invite them to be on your panels and ask them to serve as sources in your reporting. (We owe a big hat tip in reporting to Ben Barry, Chair of Fashion at Ryerson, for his Instagram post which inspired this list, and to Eric Darnell Pritchard for flagging it for us.)

This is by no means comprehensive and we will continually update this list.

Aja Barber
Website: https://www.patreon.com/AjaBarber
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram

Alphonso McClendon
Website: https://drexel.edu/westphal/about/directory/McClendonAlphonso/
Works available for purchase: Fashion and Jazz

André Leon Talley
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram
Works available for purchase: A.L.T.: A Memoir, Little Black Dress, Valentino: At the Emperor’s Table, Oscar de la Renta: His Legendary World of Style, The Chiffon Trenches

Carol Tulloch
Website: https://professorcaroltulloch.com/
Works available for purchase: The Birth of Cool: Style Narratives of the African Diaspora

Cheryl Thompson
Website: https://www.drcherylthompson.com/
Follow at: Twitter
Works available for purchase: Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada’s Black Beauty Culture

Darnell Jamal-Lisby
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram
Works available: Fashion Victims podcast; assistant curator at Cooper Hewitt’s “Willi Smith: Street Couture” exhibition

Elizabeth Way
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-way-60302b21/
Works available: Co-curator of “Black Fashion Designers” at FIT

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Eric Darnell Pritchard
Website: https://www.ericdarnellpritchard.com/
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram
Works available for purchase: Fashioning Lives: Black Queers and the Politics of Literacy

Evette Dionne
Website: https://evettedionne.com/
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram
Works available for purchase: Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box

Jonathan Michael Square
Website: https://www.jonathansquare.com/
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram
Works: Fashioning the Self, which you can also follow on Twitter and Instagram
Bylines at Fashionista: https://fashionista.com/author/jonathan-square

Joy Bivins
Website: https://iaamuseum.org/about/staff/joy-bivins/
Works: Chief Curator, International African American Museum; co-curator, “Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair”

Kimberly Jenkins
Website: https://www.kimberlymjenkins.com/
Follow at: Instagram
Works: The Fashion and Race Database, which you can also follow on Instagram

madison moore
Website: https://www.madisonmooreonline.com/
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram
Works available for purchase: Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric

Monica L. Miller
Website: https://barnard.edu/profiles/monica-l-miller
Works available for purchase: Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity

Rikki Byrd
Website: https://www.rikkibyrd.com/
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram
Bylines at Fashionista: https://fashionista.com/author/rikki-byrd

Robin Givhan
Website: https://www.robingivhanwriter.com/about
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram
Works available for purchase: The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled Into the Spotlight and Made History

Shelby Ivey Christie
Website: https://shelbyiveychristie.com/
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram

Tamara J. Walker
Website: https://www.tamarajwalker.com/
Works available for purchase: Exquisite Slaves: Race, Clothing and Status in Colonial Lima

Tanisha C. Ford
Website: https://www.tanishacford.com/
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram
Works available for purchase: Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion, Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style and the Global Politics of Soul, Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful

Teri Agins
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram
Works available for purchase: The End of Fashion: How Marketing Changed the Clothing Business Forever, Hijacking the Runway: How Celebrities Are Stealing the Spotlight From Fashion Designers

theo tyson
Website: https://www.theotyson.com/
Follow at: Twitter / Instagram
Works: Polly Thayer Starr Fellow in American Art & Culture at the Boston Athenæum

Van Dyk Lewis
Website: https://www.human.cornell.edu/people/vdl4
Works: Associate professor of Fiber Science and Apparel Design at Cornell University

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