Black Fashion Fair. Ebony Fashion Fair. Fashion Fair Cosmetics.
The names cannot be used interchangeably. They are three distinctly separate organizations with a lot of overlap. Let’s get into how these three organizations champion Black femmes, Black expression, and Black beauty.
Black Fashion Fair
Black Fashion Fair is working to make the fashion industry more equitable for Black designers. Spotlighting Black designers so that their work gets the recognition it deserves, Antoine Gregory founded the NYC-based organization in 2020 and has since gone on to help emerging designers become discovered, published, and placed in billion-dollar retailers. With Black Fashion Fair’s website doubling as a digital marketplace and designer index, staying up-to-date with them will keep you on the cutting edge or Black American fashion happenings.
In recent times Black Fashion Fair has:
- Released the first edition of its magazine Black Fashion Fair Volume 0: Seen in 2022.
- Put on the first leg of their Museum World Tour at the Brooklyn Museum.
- Worked with FUBU to release an archive collection.
- Collaborated with the estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat to create the Those Who Dress Better exhibition
Black Fashion Fair is doing its part to ensure our future in the field of fashion.
Fashion Fair Cosmetics
This makeup brand was probably your grandmama’s or auntie’s go-to.
Fashion Fair was the first cosmetics brand made for darker skin tones sold globally. Founded in 1973 by fashion pioneer Eunice W. Johnson, the idea came to create Fashion Fair Cosmetics came to her upon seeing just how exclusionary the makeup market was. She saw the problems her Ebony Fashion Fair models were having prepping for shows. Black models were forced to improvise when it came to makeup. They often resorted to making their own questionable concoctions in order to get a shade match.
Mrs. Johnson married the founder of the Johnson Publishing Company, John Johnson. This is notable because Johnson Publishing Company was the home of Ebony (Eunice gave this renowned magazine its name) and Jet. As you can expect, Fashion Fair’s advertisements were prominently placed throughout vintage issues of the aforementioned magazines.
After decades of success, the legacy brand disappeared from store shelves in 2018. In 2019, Fashion Fair’s parent company, Johnson Publishing, went bankrupt. Fashion Fair relaunched in the fall of 2021 thanks to co-owners Desiree Rogers and Cheryl Mayberry McKissack. The brand’s offering is not as robust as it was during its height, but it’s going strong!
Recently, the legendary cosmetics brand served as the makeup sponsor at the Those Who Dress Better exhibition put on by Black Fashion Fair and the estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Today, you can shop Fashion Fair Cosmetics at Sephora in stores and online.
Ebony Fashion Fair
Surprise, surprise Ebony Fashion Fair was the brainchild of Eunice W. Johnson as well.
Established in 1958, the traveling fashion show went coast-to-coast for 51 years, showcasing the hottest designs on gorgeous Black models. Ebony Fashion Fair’s catwalk spotlighted Black beauty and featured the hottest threads. Variety was given, with Parisian couture and homegrown American designers being presented with the same amount of extravagance. And you can probably guess what cosmetic brand beautified the models’ faces.
Ebony Fashion Fair was founded in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. And may I remind you that diversity in the modeling industry is still terrible to this day? So you can only imagine what a difference Ebony Fashion Fair made, how a fashion show put on by Black people for Black people was received. Imagine a fashion extravaganza that featured Black music and Black joy, traveled to urban and predominantly Black areas, fundraised for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and supported Black designers while making fashion more accessible to the Black middle class.
Oh, what I would give for the return of Ebony Fashion Fair.
The final fashion show happened in 2009. Black fashion and media royal Eunice W. Johnson passed away in January 2010. More on Eunice W. Johnson’s incredible contributions to Black fashion and beauty to come in a separate blog post.
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