The 50-year anniversary of Oberlin’s Africana Studies department was celebrated in style at the Black History Month Fashion Show last Saturday. This year’s event was themed “Look Black At It: 50 Years of Fashion.”

College third-year Jasmine Mitchell was one of the event’s key organizers. She said that the planning committee started putting the show together about six months ago.

“[We began] with ideas for the theme, creating a budget to support the ideas we had, then reaching out to models and makeup artists, contacting photographers, getting a DJ, and, finally, numerous rehearsals,” Mitchell wrote in an email to the Review. “This year … really focused on the importance of knowing Black history, particularly Oberlin’s Black History, and maintaining institutional memory.”

Building on that theme, Director and Faculty-in-Residence of the Africana Heritage House Candice Raynor said she was excited to see a broad range of community members attend the show.

“The Black community at Oberlin College and the local Black community used to have a very close relationship,” Raynor wrote in an email to the Review. “Even though we still have a relationship with the local Black community, it is not as strong as it once was. When I began at Oberlin, the Afrikana Studies department made it clear that strengthening our relationship with the local Black community is a priority of the department. The local community turnout this year at the fashion show and other Black History Month programming makes me feel like our efforts have started to bear fruit.”

College fourth-year Brian “B” Smith, who hosted the event, said that the annual fashion show represents an opportunity to highlight an important part of Black culture.

“Dressing well in my community is a reflection of how one feels about themselves,” Smith wrote in an email to the Review. “It means you take pride in who you are and how you exist in the world. Black people are the innovators of style. We define what it means to be fly, sexy, and cool. It was an absolute honor hosting the fashion show this year.”

Smith added that he saw the event as an opportunity to highlight the power of representation.

“I knew I wanted to wear something that also represented Black queer people,” Smith wrote. “Black LGBTQ people push the boundaries of fashion further than anyone else. Blackness and queerness are the two most radical and explosive forms of creativity and imagination. I was proud to stand on that stage. I dedicate my appearances to all the young boys who played in their mother’s shoes.”