Author: Louis Dell'Olio

…………….Chapter #5………”THE CONTEMPORARY CLOTHES”…………There weren’t very many contemporary clothes from black male designers on exhibit….I wanted more!…A beautiful coat, sports jacket shirt tie and pants from a friend Jeffrey Banks was the epitome of the best of men’s haberdashery…The satin jacket with the enormous black flower is todays dandy, and the short red jacket with the pants held together with safety pins was
“riding” meets “street”….These photos was basically the extent of the contemporary part of the exhibit…..NEXT…..I’m moving on to another brand new exhibit……something that I found truly EXCITING and INSPIRATIONAL!

……………Chapter #4……….”The portraits”………There weren’t many painted portraits in the exhibit, and I wished there were more……I found each of these extraordinary!…..The two largest photos were my favorites!….The one to the left could easily be a hero out of a Jane Austen novel or a character from the series “Bridgerton”, and the one to the right…..an extremely handsome beautifully dressed young man……I wanted more!

…………….The other night I was flipping through the channels, and “TOP HAT” with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers was about to start……I hadn’t seen it in years!….so I thought….OK….I’m going to watch this incredible team and look at all the wonderful clothes, sets and listen to legendary music…..As I was watching I thought how much a young Ginger Rodgers reminded me of a young Jac……It’s not that they were spitting images of each other…but there were many similarities…..it was a look in the eyes, certain gestures, and an elegance that they both shared….You may or may not see what I see…..but after all it is in the eye of the beholder.

……………..Chapter #3…………”THE PRINTS”……………For me the most impressive, and informative part of the exhibit were the old prints shown…..You rarely get to see both black men and women depicted in such beautiful clothing of that era……I think the recent series…”THE GUILDED AGE”….is doing an outstanding job at truly showing how the most affluent black people dressed and LIVED!