Illinois Humanities and the South Side Home Movie Project present Chicago Style, a multidimensional exploration of Black fashion on Chicago’s South Side from the 1930s through the 80s, culminating in a fashion show and the debut of a film curated and scored by Ayana Contreras on September 21st at the Green Line Performing Arts Center. By intertwining history, community, and creativity, Chicago Style fosters intergenerational dialogue, community cohesion, and cultural identity through the powerful language of fashion.
Join us for a fashion-filled afternoon where history collides with the present. Dress up, see the looks, explore clothing from a local vendor, enjoy refreshments, and experience stories of Chicago's style.
Chicago Style brings together a five-person cohort of intergenerational community members with diverse expertise and connections to fashion. Under the direction of educators, community organizers, and fashion experts AnnMarie Brown and Edvetté Jones, the Chicago Style Cohort engaged with the South Side Home Movie Project archive including collections shown below, local thrift and vintage stores, personal histories, and fashion historians to re-envision historical elements of everyday Black fashion. Through the program, the Cohort will examine their relationships to fashion and community, interpreting these threads into looks for the fashion show and a special media series.
About the Film
Momentum
As a part of Chicago Style, Illinois Humanities and the South Side Home Movie Project are pleased to present Momentum, a new film curated and scored by Ayana Contreras that celebrations Black fashion in motion.
With over 1000 film reels representing nine decades, the South Side Home Movie Project archive is an incredible resource for following the thread of Black fashion through generations. Ayana Contreras spent several months exploring the collections and carefully selecting moments that showcased the vibrant colors and textures of Chicago style.
Through the Ramon Williams Collection, we visit the 1941 Artists & Models Ball, an annual fundraiser held at the South Side Community Art Center. We join the audience of the 1944 Hope Fashion show at the Parkway Ballroom and see the custom clothes and local models, all captured by Ramon’s 16mm camera.
But Black fashion is more than just the runway. Through the lens of the home movie, we see how Black families integrated fashion into their everyday lives. In 1955, the Patton family dresses up to open their presents on Christmas morning. In the 1960s, Charles “Chuck” Mayewaki captures congregants of Hartzell Memorial United Methodist Church leaving service in their Sunday best. Fashion happens everywhere, and the camera can turn any moment into a fashion show.
Momentum samples from eight unique home movie collections, following the trends of Black fashion as it moves on and off the runway, from decade to decade and from frame to frame. Ayana Contreras’ original mix connects the silent images to the sounds of their time, inviting us all to join the procession.
Chicago Style is part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration and series of exhibitions and events that highlight the voices and stories that are part of Chicago’s unique artistic heritage and creative communities. Continuing into 2025, Art Design Chicago takes place across 30 Chicago neighborhoods and several suburban communities and showcases the work of hundreds of artists.