The Harlem Renaissance, Alexander Wang and the VLONE Pop Up Shop – Huffington Post

Its been a full two years since From Harlem to Paris: Black American Writers in France 1840- 1980 by Michel Fabre has lived on my bookshelf. Its really scandalous as to how I acquired such gold, signed by the author himself as it was protruding from a friends bookshelf at an ungodly hour of the night, I helped myself to literature ecstasy. Its a textbook that talks about the Harlem renaissance movement in detail, beyond Langston Hughes, that goes as far back as the New Orleans influence in black culture and travel in France and the beloved Sally Hemings, Thomas Jeffersons (beautiful) slave, who was known to be the first black person ever to travel to France during slavery. As Black History month slowly comes to an end, it would be pity if this book and Harlem was not compared to the recent happenings of New York Fashion Weeks Fall 2017 events and collections. After all, all roads lead to Harlems creative mecca, as told by Alexander Wang, Stella McCartney, and ASAP Mobs faithful push to rebrand Harlem as Manhattans truest fashion zeitgeist.

For one, rising streetwear brand VLONE debuted its highly sought after Nike collaboration in Harlem earlier this month. Creative Director ASAP Bari along with members of the ASAP Mob, including ASAP Rocky (rumored to be dating Kendall Jenner at the moment), and dozens of fans visited the Harlem basketball court inspired pop up shop situated on the west side of 116th street. In a basketball court -like room, VLONEs signature orange decorated custom Spalding basketballs, as Nikes Air Force 1s with Harlem World graffiti and spray painted on sneakers and tees. The brands tagline was also written in old script font Every Living Creative Dies Alone on the walls of the dimly lit very chic retail space. Sneakers went for hundreds of dollars; I suppose the line to get into this streetwear arcade was never ending. The VLONE popup shop was much more refined with a strong brand message to welcome in the heavy collaboration with the billion dollar athletic company. VLONEs value and popularity over the past year has tripled with proof from its products currently being auctioned off for thousands of dollars on eBay. With the brands having repped Harlem from the very beginning, theres a lot to connect to how much Harlem continues to breed people who are not only for the evolution of Black American culture setting the bar, but also how much influence it has with an international audience. As a writer currently residing in Harlem, I wasnt invited to attend the After-Party or given a press recap which was covered by mainstream outlets like Vogue, VLONE has literally floated to the top of whats cool and hip and has simultaneously put Harlem back on the map, once again, as a place that is very much rooted in carrying on tradition, and not just another Manhattan neighborhood undergoing gentrification.

Harlems burgeoning coolness within the fashion industry is again, flattering but not necessarily needed, as it has always been a place of beauty especially during the Harlem renaissance. In the early 20th century, the architecture, the music, the food had all became to be what is known as today. But yet again, high fashion always seems to exude this Christopher Columbus attitude when it comes to exposing something new to the mainstream. What I mean is, it appropriates certain things in cultures that have always been known to the individuals in which the cultures belongs to, but not necessarily identifiable to the greater majority. When Alexander Wang decided to debut his fall 2017 collections in a abandoned theater in Harlem, he forced the fashion crowd to trek their way uptown for a chic adventure. An invited fashion editor (perhaps sarcastically) tweeted about his lack of knowledge of the train routes that far uptown. Did Alexander Wangs team care to invite some of the movers and shakers of Harlem or the greater community? Probably not. If this is too much, then perhaps compare this same concept to when Riccardo Tisci hosted the Givenchy Summer 2015 runway collections in New York and actually came to Harlem to invite random people on 125th street to his show because thats how much he was inspired by the culture for that particular collection. Were Alexander Wangs clothes inspired by Harlem? What exactly compelled him to host his show in Harlem is a question left unanswered at this point. It may seem like a small act of whatever, but the fact of a matter is Harlem is still a community full of black people desperately trying to hold on to their homes and culture, in the light of gentrification and appropriation running rampant in pop culture. Overall, VLONEs ability to reclaim the streets and build credibility with hoodwear, thus making it appealing to mainstream that is reaches the pages of Vogue is a huge accomplishment when it comes to owning the true black identity todays complex but still very elitist fashion world.

Here are 3 Black American Writers Who Have Travelled to Paris:

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The Harlem Renaissance, Alexander Wang and the VLONE Pop Up Shop - Huffington Post