I will make my TV premiere on tonight's episode of @americanexperiencepbs , which explores the history of denim in the United States. Though denim is often associated with the Old West and the Gold Rush, rough, durable workwear made from "jeans" were worn by enslaved people prior to the mid-nineteenth century. The broadcast will also be streaming live with the broadcast, which you can access in the #linkinbio or via the PBS Video app on your streaming device.
Here was my super casual Met Gala look from last night. I wore white tie, but made it me. It referenced the dress code while staying true to my style. Aren’t fashion rules meant to be broken? On top, I wore a traditional white tie tailcoat with a gilded carnation. On the bottom, I wore vintage @carhartt cargo pants and holey Chuck Taylors. I thrifted the pants in Louisiana with my mom. She thought that they were too baggy and ill-fitting, and she wasn’t sure how I would style them. Mom, I wore them to the Met Gala!
@altheasullycole and I had to take the requisite #metgala bathroom selfie. I took Anna Wintour’s place card. And I saw Lenny Kravitz live in concert. Another check off my bucket list ✔️ Now back to nursing my hangover. #metgala2022 #blackfashion
March was full, but my time in Brazil 🇧🇷 stands out. A whirlwind two weeks in Belém ➡ Recife ➡ Rio de Janeiro. It was wonderful to celebrate my birthday and spend Pisces season ♓ in my second home.
One year older. As I get older, I feel more grateful. The longer I stick around, the more I realize that growing older is a privilege. Everyone ain’t promised a long life. On my birthday, I’m thankful to have lived this long, and thankful for whatever more life may give.
February was bitterly cold, but I felt deeply held by the warmth of my community. It’s the shortest month, yet I still found space for art, fashion, and meaningful conversations that reminded me why my work matters.
I started January in balmy Louisiana, which felt like a gentle way to begin the year. It’s always nice to go back to where you’re from. Though I could never live in Louisiana again, I do feel deeply rooted when I’m there. The rest of the month unfolded mostly in museums: the Brooklyn Museum, MoMA, and the Met. A particular highlight was a 24-hour jaunt to the Cleveland Museum of Art to see @darnelljamall ’s Renaissance to Runway, and somehow making it back to NYC just under the wire before a massive snowstorm ❄️ I also gave two lectures at Bard, was gifted two mannequins from Superfine, and ended the month on a high note attending a Carrie Mae Weems performance with @natalien__ . Not a bad way to ease into a new year.
Mark your calendars and save Wednesday, February 11 at 5:30 to attend:
"Textiles as Narratives and Historical Archives of Black Atlantic Culture"
A conversation between artist-designer-maker-educator Precious Lovell; and Jonathan Michael Square, Assistant Professor of Black Visual Culture at Parsons School of Design and curator of "Fashioning the Self in Slavery and Freedom" and "Rendering Revolution"
Facilitated by Scott Barton (Africana Studies) and Tatiana Reinoza (Art and Art History)
at the Sojourner Truth Commons, O'Shaughnessy Hall
Reception to follow
co-sponsored by the Kellogg Institute, the Initiative on Race and Resilience, and the Gender Studies Program
People are posting photos of themselves from 2016, and I’m not entirely sure why. It doesn’t feel like that long ago, and yet it feels like a lifetime ago. This selfie captures the hope and curiosity I carried as a young PhD student, still wide-eyed about the work ahead and optimistic about where both my life and the world might be headed.
How do you distill an entire year into twenty images? Honestly, I’m not sure you can. In 2025, I co-curated Revolisyon Toupatou with @siobhanmei , advised on Superfine, and taught an NYU course inspired by Superfine alongside my usual teaching at Parsons. My essay for the Superfine catalogue was published as well as an article on @coreensimpson with @aperturefnd . I curated Almost Unknown, The Afric-American Picture Gallery at @winterthurmuse , organized a symposium inspired by the exhibition, and am now editing a special issue of Winterthur Portfolio that grows out of that work...Phew. I’m certain I’m forgetting something. But in any case, it’s been a full year in every sense of the word. Here’s to another one.
Oh, November. Where do I even begin? I finally crossed seeing @kaytranada in concert off my bucket list. And then there was my symposium “Looking Back to the Future: Realizing the “Afric-American Picture Gallery” at @winterthurmuse . After months of planning, emailing, revising, tweaking, and manifesting, it came together with minimal hitches. Standing in that auditorium, surrounded by brilliant colleagues, students, artists, mentors, and friends, I realized that this was a career highlight. I even had some face-time with the keynote speaker Fred Wilson whose groundbreaking exhibition “Mining the Museum” forever lives on my moodboard. November gave me so much to be grateful for. Onward to the holiday season.
In our upcoming guest-edited issue marking 15 years of the MA Fashion Studies program at Parsons School of Design, we spotlight an article on Revolisyon Toupatou, the first Parsons exhibition dedicated entirely to contemporary Haitian art and fashion. Co-curated by @stylesquared and @siobhanmmei , the show brings together 19 artists and expands the bilingual digital humanities project Rendering Revolution, which uses clothing to rethink Haiti’s history and representation.
Stay tuned for the full article when the issue drops on December 3rd!
