How Black style became beautiful; fashion historian Michael Henry Adams offers a few lesser-known details highlighting more than 100 years of Black excellence in fashion

So gifted is Virginia-born Elizabeth Keckley with a needle and as designer that less than 20 years after buying her freedom from slavery and starting a thriving dressmaking business in Washington, she is chosen as first lady Mary Lincoln's seamstress.

1948

Zelda Wynn Valdes starts the first Black-owned store on Broadway in New York, selling her sexy, hip-hugging dresses to Black legends such as movie star Dorothy Dandridge, opera diva Jessye Norman and singer Gladys Knight. She creates the Playboy bunny costume in the 1950s.

1973

Often outrageously revealing, Scott Barrie's evening wear, made from clinging jersey, makes him, at this moment, one of the country's most sought-after designers.

1990

In Los Angeles, designer Carl Jones starts Cross Colors, a political-artistic-commercial enterprise that celebrates street-style, even as it condemns Black-on-Black gang violence.

1911

Long before the fad for grills, jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton of New Orleans had diamond fillings in his teeth. Another pianist puts diamonds into his bulldog's teeth and ties his pet to the piano leg during sets.

1949

Dorothea Towles moves to Paris. Modeling for renowned designers like Christian Dior and Schiaparelli, Towles literally stops traffic, when long before Lil' Kim, she dyes her hair platinum blond!

1973

Stephen Burrows achieves international acclaim as the most celebrated among four American designers. They triumph over France's top fashion houses at a charity gala at the Palace of Versailles.

1992

Five young men, including Daymond John and Russell Simmons, notice how White manufacturers are appropriating the aesthetic of urban Blacks, leading to John's FUBU (For Us By Us) and to Simmons' Phat Farm. Fashion rooted in popular culture leads to controversy, which of course, is good for business.

1916

The daughter of slaves, washerwoman-turned-self-styled Madame C. J. Walker moves to Harlem. Working with her daughter A'Lelia, Walker establishes thousands of franchises that use her patented techniques, cosmetics, and hair-growing and straightening products.

1953

Jacqueline Bouvier wears an Ann Lowe dress to her 1952 wedding to Sen. John F. Kennedy.

1974

Beverly Johnson becomes the first African-American woman to grace the cover of Vogue magazine in August, which was a historical moment in time. The color barrier was broken.

1998

A man whose name undergoes several transmutations, Sean Combs kicks off his evocative Sean John line. Just six years later he wins the award for Best Menswear Designer from the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America).

1925

Sporting little more than processed, "patent leather-hair" and a miniskirt of bananas, Josephine Baker is the toast of Paris among theater lovers.

1958

Established to raise funds for Black charities, the first Ebony Fashion Fair is held to benefit a New Orleans hospital. (As of today, the show, directed by EBONY'S secretary-treasurer, Eunice W. Johnson, has contributed more than $55 million to various causes.)

1976

Willi Smith launches a hip, affordable, sportswear line that eventually makes him the most successful Black designer in fashion history.

2002

Triple threat Serena Williams causes consternation on the U.S. Open courts by wearing a leather-look catsuit in favor of traditional tennis whites. In 2006, with sister Venus on the runway, Williams shows her Aneres design line in Miami.

1929

Captivatingly lovely, movie actress Nina Mae McKinney, from 110th Street in Harlem, starring in King Vidor's hit "talkie" Hallelujah, is America's first Black film sex goddess.

1982

Among the first Blacks to have a successful and visible clothing business in the country's fashion center on Seventh Avenue in New York, Wesley Tann is chosen to make maternity clothes for first lady Jackie Kennedy.

1983

Founded in 1938 and later popularized by LL Cool J, it isn't until 1983 that the British Kangol hat company acquires the signature logo, in response to rap artists" requests for "the hat that sounds like a kangaroo."

2005

Megastar Beyonce Knowles turns her hand to fashion, debuting the House of Dereon.

1935

Generously cut, draped and padded, the hipster zoot suit comes on stage, screen and avenue, courtesy of Black musicians.

1966

The afro sweeps the nation among a generation eager to express pride in African heritage. Airman August Doyle serves 90 days in the brig for refusing to cut his "fro." His stand changes policy in the Air Force.

1983

Vanessa L. Williams is the nation's first Black Miss America, only to later lose the title in a scandal involving nude photos.

1939

Based in Beverly Hills by 1939, former maid Mildred Blount designs hats exclusively for celebrities, including Gloria Vanderbilt, Louise Beavers and Marian Anderson.

1968

Creating sleek, flowing dresses that make customers from Eartha Kitt to Mary Wilson look great on the dance floor, Jon Haggins sets up his own design studio.

1984

"So what if the NBA says basketball players can't wear black sneakers." Michael Jordan does anyway. His endorsement fees from Nike far outweigh his $5,000 per game fines.