#Shantrelle P. Lewis

[gravalicious]

“The first comprehensive exhibition of contemporary global black dandyism of its kind, the Dandy Lion Project was born in November 2010 when I was invited to curate an exhibition in a pop-up gallery in Harlem. Titled Dandy Lion: Articulating a Re(de)fined Black Masculinity, the exhibition is a discussion about the refashioning and articulation of black masculinity. For those unfamiliar with the phenomenon, the black dandy’s look is highly tailored—the antithesis of baggy-wear. He is a rebel—a modern-day representation of the African trickster. His style and identity generally contradict the stereotypes, boxes, categories, and ideas that society has about him. The dandy represents a complicated dance between race, gender, power, and style. Primarily, dandyism as a fashion trend was born in Europe during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. More specifically, the dandy is mostly a British construct who came into being in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but who simultaneously has French roots. He was classified as an individual whose self-importance, impeccable dress, and manners attract attention and afford status.”

Shantrelle P. Lewis - Fashioning Black Masculinity: The Origins of the Dandy Lion Project. [Nka 1 November 2015; 2015 (37): 54–61.]

[asmymotherb4me]

notable documentaries and essays to reference

Cain, Solana. “The First + The Last: Black Motherhood - A Photo Essay.” Womanly Magazine, Womanly Magazine, 3 Jan. 2023, www.womanlymag.com/black-maternal-health/the-first-the-last-black-motherhood.

Kerr, Jacqueline. “Acknowledging Different Experiences of Black Motherhood.” Dr. Jacqueline Kerr, Dr. Jacqueline Kerr, 3 Nov. 2021, www.drjacquelinekerr.com/blog/acknowledging-the-black-motherhood-experience.

Lewis, Shantrelle  P. “In Our Mothers’ Gardens: Now On Netflix.” In Our Mothers’ Gardens | Now On Netflix, 2021, inourmothersgardens.com/.

Nash, Jennifer C. “The Ordinary Pleasures of Black Motherhood.” Boston Review, Getfused, 18 Nov. 2022, www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-ordinary-pleasures-of-black-motherhood/.

Rigueur, Leah Wright. “The Persistent Joy of Black Mothers.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 11 Aug. 2021, www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/08/black-mothers-joy-weapon/619713/.

[xtrablak674]

In Case of Death Approved Portraits

Recently I have been doing a lot of planning for my inevitable death, facts we will all die eventually. Some of it may be spurred by the recent death of my last parent. But I think it aligns with my personality of having my business in order, that and the fact that frankly there isn't anyone currently alive I would trust with coming up with the visual aesthetics for my life as well as I could.

I have written my obituary and now have selected the photos I would like used in case of my death. I have been very diligent in trying to photograph myself with folks I do care for, so they can have one of those "In case of death" photos that you can post on your FB page. It may seem a little dark, but nothing I hate more than hinky photos of folks used after their death, so if I make my own selection that won't be an issue.

Ultimately its usually just one image that is used, but I would like to have some options.

This school photo from Uriah Hill Elementary School is a classic image. The bold stripped shirt the very classic eyeglasses and most classic abso-smurfly no smile. It sets the tone for the rest of my life most of my images formal or otherwise I am not smiling and if you know my people you know this isn't unusual. I don't come from a toothy family we hide our teeth and usually appear neutral in our photos.

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts senior portrait. The story behind this fake tuxedo image is my friend who was a model Eva Matuka (maiden name) she was by the photographer encouraging folks to smile and I think she made me laugh which read as a smile, which I truly do not have a natural smile. But the falsity of this image I give full credit to Ms. Matuka. Its a great senior photo and appropriate one to sit next to the much more famous Adrien Brody in our year book.

This image is a self portrait I am pretty sure I took on my first iPad. I am wearing a shirt by local designer Gureje, a custom hat made just for me by Quintin Johnson, a striped scarf purchased on my 2007 trip to Peru along with a necklace bought on the same trip remixed by Christine Wiley, some bead bought at a street fair and t-shirt by Minoritees purchased at the local boutique Pieces run by Latisha Darling. Glasses by Warby Parker. I love this shot because it embodies my personal creativity in how I style myself. This image inspired an illustration done by a former co-worker Jennifer Birkenhead.

This last image was taken by master photographer Rog Walker with his wife Bee Walker at the book party for Dandy Lion: The Black Dandy and Street Style by Shantrelle P. Lewis. Ms. Lewis had curated my work in an exhibition at Museum Of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts. My necklace is by artist Alicia Pillar paired with a piece from an Ghanian artisan. My vest by local designer Gureje and the shirt purchased at Century 21 by Jhane Barnes printed in Japan. Glasses by Warby Parker.

This look speaks to my life a mish-mash of different items coming together to create one person and a look. It embodies my art and artistic aesthetics which were a bit beyond conventional categorization. And like two of the other photos the same style of glasses connecting my youth to my adulthood. Layering is something I revisited over and over again in my styling heavily inspired by Erykah Badu and the energy of the Brooklyn streets.

[Photos by Brown Estate]

[cute-st]

In Our Mothers' Gardens (2021) | dir. Shantrelle P. Lewis

[thecurvycritic]

In Our Mother's Garden Cultivates a Soil Rich with Love, Truth and Laughter

Shantrelle P. Lewis helps America take a much needed look #InOurMothersGarden @netflix and culitvates the soil with love, laughter and realness #netflix #mothers #array

There is a woman from St. Louis who dreamed of being a nurse and helping those who medically suffered.   Even after failing the board exam, she never gave up and eventually lived out that dream as Registered Nurse in every conceivable nursing department for more than 50 years.  That woman has been a beacon of courage, hope and tenacity for an entire family for decades.  Her name is Claudet and…

[thistleandwine]

Okay, I gotta say this: I have not ever, any time, in any of my life, seen either of my grandmother's in church. So you know how most black people who ain't from New Orleans they got that praying grandmother, and they got that cookie-baking grandmother, and they got that other grandmama? Not me! One bet horses. One had eleven husbands. A man is like a bus. Miss one? Catch the next. Those are words of wisdom from my grandmother.

In Our Mothers’ Gardens ARRAY 2021

[retoxx]

Okay, I gotta say this. I have not ever, anytime, in any of my life, seen either of my grandmothers in church. So you know how most Black people who ain't from New Orleans, they got that praying grandmother, and they got that cookie baking grandmama, and they got that other grandmama? Not me. One bet horses, and one had eleven husbands. A man is like a bus: miss one, catch the next. Those are words of wisdom from my grandmother.

In Our Mothers' Gardens (2021) | dir. Shantrelle P. Lewis

[oil-diffuser]

“In Our Mothers’s Gardens” dir. Shantrelle P. Lewis, 2021

I watched this film for Mother’s Day.

[floydscoffee]

As Starbucks Hosts Racial Bias Training, Black Coffee Shop Owners Look Forward

As Starbucks closed its doors to some 8,000 stores this afternoon for staff-wide racial bias training following the unwarranted arrest on April 12 of two black men at a Philadelphia...

https://dailycoffeenews.com/2018/05/29/as-starbucks-hosts-racial-bias-training-black-coffee-shop-owners-look-forward/

[designanddialogue]

Taylor is an “American girl, she is a sister, a daughter, and a hard worker. Those are the kinds of people that I am drawn towards,” says Sherald. She calls this portrait a contribution to the “moment and to activism—producing this image keeps Breonna alive forever.”

Sherald’s process typically begins with taking a picture of her subject. Painting Taylor, a person she had never met, who would never be able to sit for her, presented a unique challenge. Sherald took extraordinary care in reimagining Taylor, inflecting her portrait with symbols of the 26-year-old’s life. Sherald found a young woman with similar physical attributes, studied Taylor’s hairstyles and fashion choices, and drew inspiration from things she learned about the young woman—that she had been a frontline worker in the battle against COVID-19; that her boyfriend had been about to propose marriage; that she was self-possessed, brave, loving, loved.

“She sees you seeing her. The hand on the hip is not passive, her gaze is not passive. She looks strong!” says Sherald. “I wanted this image to stand as a piece of inspiration to keep fighting for justice for her. When I look at the dress, it kind of reminds me of Lady Justice.”

Jasmine Elder of Jibri, an Atlanta-based fashion designer, created a crepe dress specifically for the cover. “When thinking about what she was going to wear, I wanted Breonna to like it,” says Sherald. “I wanted her family to look and say, I can see my daughter and sister in this.” A friend sent Sherald an image of actress Danielle Brooks wearing an Elder piece, and Sherald found Elder on @shoppeblack-blog , a digital platform curated by husband and wife Tony O. Lawson and Shantrelle P. Lewis that showcases Black businesses. During the painting process, Sherald added movement to the dress, and a slit—“I thought, What would I want if I were 26.

[nomanwalksalone]

BOOK REVIEW: DANDY LION

by Réginald-Jérôme de Mans

There are so many different kinds of dandyism. Most books on dandies attempt to suggest they are all of many conflicting concepts of the word, so that the very least of the dandies they feature is not just an eccentric who fetishizes dressing well, but also, supposedly, a political revolutionary, an intellectual incendiary, and a retrograde elegant gentleman to (champagne-polished) boot. Dandy Lion: The Black Dandy and Street Style, by Shantrelle P. Lewis, is not one of those books.

Lewis asserts that the dandies in her book, a varied group, represent a particular group of “dapper agitators.” Their dress, all variants on tailored clothing rather than streetwear, reflects a balance between survival wear – the clothing styles of an overclass, rather than the hoodies in which black children are murdered with impunity – and provocation – through the appropriation of that wear by the stigmatized or powerless, and the assertion of individuality in daring colors or styles. Or indeed through daring elegance.

Like most dandies in other recent books, Dandy Lion could trade on its looks, gorgeously shot images with deep colors and patterns, and that’s before we talk about what the featured models are wearing.  Indeed, recent books about new or unusual groups of dandies have had a winning formula that requires little more than color, exoticism, and the performative nattiness of their subjects. Sumptuous as Dandy Lion is, it doesn’t rest on its own lushness. Four sets of different profiles describe sartorial movements and happenings; individual dandies themselves; designers and tailors; and photographers.  Those sartorial movements range from the Khumbula and Sartists of South Africa, wrestling with postapartheid identity, to the obligatory Sapeurs of Congo and Congo-Brazzaville, made famous in Daniele Tamagni’s Gentlemen of Bacongo, to… the Washington, D.C. Tweed Ride, an African-American take on the bicycle rides launched by cosplayers in London. Dandies include the Islington Twins of the famous 1979 London photograph, along with Amar’e Stoudemire, the rapper Baloji, and Janelle Monáe (with a good explanation of her dandy politics).  Among the designers we find Ikiré Jones and, somewhat unavoidably, Ozwald Boateng of Savile Row, while the photographers include (along with the Dandy Lion photographers themselves), Osborne Macharia, who created a fictional series of photos of “The League of Extravagant Grannies of Kenya.” We also encounter Rose Callahan, who shot one of the first of these dandy catalogs, I Am Dandy, which gives the authors cause to include her photos of some of the better chosen subjects from that work, like Keith Churchwell and Barima Nyantekyi.

But a summary can’t do this work credit. It is vital, extremely interesting and necessary, even if I hesitate to characterize these clothes as street style. The author has put forward her definition of a black dandyism, and collected and presented a fascinating set of figures from this world. This book is more than simply long-needed representation. It is new names, new perspectives, and images that can spur further discussion and investigation. We can remember that the what dandyism means changes and has changed over time, is not universal, and its practitioners heterogenous and evolving.

[cute-st]

Dr. Theresa S. Thames speaking on Black Women...

In Our Mothers' Gardens (2021) | dir. Shantrelle P. Lewis

[jmarksthespots]

[#BLACKFASHION] Fashion Night: Modern Black Dandies Presented by the @BrooklynMuseum Thursday, June 1 | 6:30pm  Brooklyn Museum | 200 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, New York Admission: $12 

The Brooklyn Museum and Aperture Foundation invite you to celebrate black men’s style as a form of personal politics with a night of fashion, film, and music, organized in honor of author Shantrelle P. Lewis’s new book, Dandy Lion: The Black Dandy and Street Style.

With programs activating both our performance spaces and the Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern exhibition galleries, this evening celebrates the art and style of black dandies, men of African descent who use fashion to define and inhabit a proud, radically independent public persona.

Featuring: - Shantrelle P. Lewis, author and curator - Darnell Moore, Editor-at-Large, Interactive One - Ignacio Quiles, Haberdasher, QP & Monty - Abiola Oke, CEO, Okayafrica - Discussion moderated by Rashid Shabazz, VP of Communications, Campaign for Black Male Achievement.

To receive the Member discount code, email us at membership@brooklynmuseum.org with your full name and Membership ID. Supported by the campaign for Black Male Achievement. Aaron Smith, Musician Janelle Monáe, 2009; from Dandy Lion (Aperture, 2017) © Aaron Smith

[recessart]

On June 22, Wonder Room hosted a Book Club with Shantrelle P. Lewis. Shantrelle, a curator and researcher, led a rich discussion on the text "Mojo Workin'": The Old African-American Hoodoo System by Katrina Hazzard-Gordon, touching on topics such as how Hoodoo is portrayed in pop culture and how the legacy and influence of Hoodoo manifests across the contemporary cultural landscape.

[outandaboutnycmag]

5/30/17 O&A NYC WITH WaleStylez ART MEETS FASHION: Brooklyn Museum Presents - Fashion Night Modern Black Dandies

5/30/17 O&A NYC WITH WaleStylez ART MEETS FASHION: Brooklyn Museum Presents – Fashion Night Modern Black Dandies

By Adewale Adekanbi Jr. The Brooklyn Museum and Aperture Foundation invite you to celebrate black men’s style as a form of personal politics with a night of fashion, film, and music, organized in honor of author Shantrelle P. Lewis’s new book, Dandy Lion: The Black Dandy and Street Style. June 1,2017  6pm-9pm (more…)