Lois K. Alexander Lane facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lois K. Alexander Lane
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| Born | July 11, 1916 |
| Died | September 29, 2007 (aged 91) |
| Occupation | Fashion designer and museum founder |
Lois K. Alexander-Lane (born Lois Marie Kindle; July 11, 1916 – September 29, 2007) was an amazing African American fashion designer. She created the Black Fashion Museum in 1979. This museum was important because it showed the history and talent of black designers. Lois Alexander-Lane dedicated her life to celebrating and preserving the contributions of African Americans in fashion.
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Early Life and Learning
Lois Marie Kindle was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on July 11, 1916. When she was a child, Lois and her sister Sammye loved fashion. They would try to copy the fancy clothes they saw in white department stores. Because of racial segregation, they weren't allowed to go inside these stores.
So, Lois would draw sketches of the clothes from outside. Then, she would use fabric from the Five & Dime store to make clothes. She sewed outfits for her mother, her siblings, and even her dolls.
Lois went to college at the Hampton Institute. Later, she studied at the University of Chicago. She also married Julius Lane, who was a former paratrooper.
Proving a Point with Fashion History
In 1963, Lois earned her master's degree in fashion and merchandising from New York University. For her final project, she wanted to write about the history of African Americans in fashion in Manhattan. Her professor told her that African Americans didn't play a big role in this history.
But Lois knew this wasn't true. She wrote a powerful paper called "The Role of the Negro in Retailing in New York City from 1863 to the Present." This paper proved that African Americans had a very important part in fashion and retail. Her work was so good that the university faculty voted it the best paper of the year. This project became a big part of her life's mission.
A Career in Fashion and Community
In the 1940s, Lois Alexander-Lane ran her own fashion shop in Washington, D.C.. She also worked for the government. In 1942, she became a clerk for the War Department. She later moved to New York City. There, she opened another fashion shop. She also worked her way up in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. By 1978, she was a Planning and Community Development Officer.
Besides her government job, Lois was also a freelance photographer. She took pictures for African-American newspapers. She even became the vice president of the Capital Press Club.
Teaching Fashion in Harlem
In 1965, Lois bought a building in Harlem, New York City. It cost $8,000. In 1966, she opened the Harlem Institute of Fashion there. This institute offered free classes in dressmaking, hatmaking, and tailoring. Students only paid a small $10 registration fee. By 1987, about 4,500 students had graduated from her program. She also started the National Association of Milliners, Dressmakers and Tailors in 1966.
Founding the Black Fashion Museum
After leaving her government job, Lois Alexander-Lane opened the Black Fashion Museum in Harlem in 1979. She received a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to help start it. This museum was the first of its kind. It was created to highlight the amazing work of black designers throughout American history.
Lois often had to use her own money to keep the museum going. It was hard to get clothes from wealthy white women who had worn designs by black artists. So, much of the museum's collection included accessories and other items.
In 1994, the museum moved to Washington, D.C. It found a new home in a historic house. The collection grew to about two thousand garments. These items were designed, made, or worn by African Americans. They told the story of black men and women from the African diaspora.
The collection included:
- Clothes made by enslaved women.
- A dress sewn by Rosa Parks just before her famous arrest.
- Original costumes from the 1975 Broadway musical, The Wiz, designed by Geoffrey Holder.
- Beautiful gowns by Ann Lowe, a pioneering African-American designer.
Awards and Recognition
Lois Alexander-Lane was a very respected figure in the fashion world. She designed clothes for many wealthy families, including the Rockefellers and the Roosevelts. She even designed First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's wedding gown.
She was also a former President of the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers. Lois was a founding member of The National Council of Negro Women.
In 1993, Lois received the Crusader's Award from the NAACP. She also became a show producer for Harlem Week in 1979. This event celebrated Harlem's fashion and culture. In 1992, she received the Josephine Shaw Lowell Award. This award recognized her efforts to improve the lives of people in poverty in New York.
Legacy and Impact
Lois Alexander-Lane wrote her own book, Blacks in the History of Fashion, in 1982. She passed away in 2007 at the age of 91.
Her daughter, Joyce Bailey, donated the entire Black Fashion Museum collection to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2007. This means Lois's incredible work and the stories she preserved will continue to educate and inspire people for generations to come.
