I was reminded of the Black British Style exhibition ( Exhibition on Black British Style ) in a conversation about transnational dress identities that have their origins in Jamaica with visiting scholar Jahlani Niaah, PhD, from the Institute of Caribbean Studies at the University of the West Indies at MONA and Jake Homiah curator of the Smithsonian Exhibition One Love: Discovering Rastafari! (One Love: Discovering Rastafari ) at the National Museum of Natural History. Our question for discussion is: What relationships can you see in the Black British Style
Exhibition to the Will to Adorn Initiative both in regard to the African American style communities that we are documenting and in regard to global styles (and communities.)
What can we learn from the way in which Black British Style is discussed? Are there common themes? categories? frameworks for defining and categorizing style? Are there common or parallel experiences, influences, aesthetics or ideologies that find their way into the way that people adorn themselves and the clothing they choose to wear?
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