St. Louis Fashion Fund hosts panel to discuss the impact of African Americans in fashion

African American designers make up just 7.3% of the nation’s fashion industry, despite the heavy influence Black culture has on it. The St. Louis Fashion Fund is trying to shed more light on Black designers from the region through the “Black In Fashion” panel discussion at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 8 at Hearth and Soul fashion boutique.

Fashion designers Brandin Vaughn and Yosh Dafney, along with jewelry maker Theresa Wangia, will discuss the impact Black St. Louisans have had on the fashion scene and the challenges and rewards of being Black in the industry.

Sometimes being in business for years is meaningless, because there are still some fashion networks in the area that are not welcoming to Black designers, especially emerging ones, said Vaughn, owner of the Brandin Vaughn Collection.

“The work has been consistent. The work is quality, and people are now seeing that, and they recognize it,” he said. “That’s what’s really opening the doors.”

Earlier this year Vaughn became the first Black draper for the Muny and also gained styling contracts with COCA and other area theaters. His celebrity client list is also growing and includes Beyonce, the Isley Brothers and St. Louis food entrepreneur and singer Robbi Montgomery. However, he said Black St. Louisans have always influenced fashion and style, but often are not recognized for their talents because of the color of their skin, which can be challenging.

“When I had the store open, I would get white people gawking at the windows, but then they look in and see this big, Black man … and then they just step away,” said Vaughn, who closed his Cherokee Street shop last month to begin new fashion ventures.

For a decade, the St. Louis Fashion Fund has been committed to supporting regional emerging designers and their brands to try to keep them in the area.

“These people could be working anywhere,” said Susan Sherman, co-founder of the Fund. “We need to support everybody, whether Black, brown, yellow, it doesn’t even matter if we want to make a go of it in St Louis, then we have to support our independent brands.”

Yosh Dafney, who started Dafney.Co in 2021, said as a young Black designer he needs more networks in St. Louis that could help with finding affordable manufacturers in the area and with business strategy and investment.

“It’s important to have someone to help you … do your taxes, all those small things when you start making money and how to manage it,” he said. “A lot of young Black people don’t know how to do that.”

Patrick Lanham

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Dafney.Co

When Dafney was 15 years old, he found himself drawing designs on a shirt in detention for being late to class at Jennings High School. He later sold a few of those shirts in a store in the St. Louis Galleria, but it was not until he had a near-death experience three years ago that he felt pushed to start his own clothing line.

“It was raining hard and my car hydroplaned, two cars swerved on the side of my car and a semi-truck came toward the car head-on and I thought I was going to die,” Dafney said. “I always think, what if I passed away at that time, what would I think of my life and I would have been disappointed … so after that, I started my brand.”

Dafney credits local Black creatives for shaping him into the businessman that he is today, and he is proud of the work of other Black designers from the area that have paved the way for him.

History shows that Black St. Louisans have quietly been shaping the region’s industry for centuries. That includes Elizabeth Keckley, who purchased her and her son’s freedom from slavery in St. Louis in 1855, and later became the personal dressmaker for first lady Mary Todd Lincoln in Washington, D.C.

“I’m thinking actively about how Elizabeth Keckley’s designs might be living on these contemporary designers today,” Rikki Byrd, fashion historian and professor of visual culture at University of Texas, said. “My hope and desire is that we can have more of these individuals coming out of St. Louis and getting the support that they need, and not necessarily just these ephemeral moments of support, but thinking about sustainability for Black designers and really Black creatives at large, in St Louis.”

Abby Gillardi Photography

Although Theresa Wagina traveled the world and worked in various sectors of the fashion industry before designing jewelry, she said she would not want to run Beltshazzar Jewels anywhere else but in St. Louis.

“There are big, amazing things happening as far as St Louis goes with businesses, with the business of fashion and the opportunities here,” she said. “It is definitely a community feel to living here that I don’t necessarily see when I go to bigger cities.”

Related Event

What: Black in Fashion Book Debut and Panel
When: 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 8
Where: Hearth & Soul (9640 Clayton Rd., St. Louis, MO 63124)
Livestream will be available