Fashion Against Injustice
Undoubtedly, fashion can make a statement, but did you know it’s been a form of political protest since the 18th century?
In honor of Black History Month, (and my absolute love for fashion) I want to highlight how marginalized groups have protested against injustice through their garments. As writer and image activist Michaela Angela Davis puts it, these moments mark “the intersection of Blackness, fashion, politics and justice.”
We’ll set the scene in the French district of Louisiana, which had been ceded to Spain in 1763 after the French Indian War. Colonizers did what colonizers do, and used force to take land and claim it as their own. There was already an established community of free Black people who lived and worked on this territory. They owned their homes and nurtured their families in this community, many having spent most of their lives rooted in this cherished place.
Once the Spanish government took over, they realized that free Black people could harness too much power in their freedom, and while they did not reassert slavery on them, they felt they needed to confine them in other ways. One major concern of these colonizers was the beauty that Black women held, and how they were so beautiful that white men were too attracted to them. Yes, you read that right- the Spanish wanted to govern Black beauty. In 1786, the governor of Louisiana mandated that all free Black women wear tignon, head scarves typically used by enslaved women. This law marked free Black women as connected to enslaved women rather than white women and forced them to cover their hair, which was seen as one of their most attractive features.
The Black women of Louisiana looked at this law and scoffed as if this was going to stop them from looking effortlessly lavish. While they adopted the tignon to comply with the law, they used colorful and expensive fabrics, tying them in ornate knots. They adorned their tignon with feathers and fastened jewels to it. Instead of symbolizing the inferiority of free Black women, it became a mark of their beauty, wealth, and creativity—a subtle rebellion against a colonial government that sought to keep them down. White women even began to copy their looks; this right here marks the roots of high fashion. Black women ARE the roots of high fashion.
Fast forward to 1930’s Harlem NYC, in a dimly lit, smoky jazz club. Chances are the performer and many of those swinging were wearing Zoot Suits.
The Zoot Suit became a cultural symbol among African and Mexican Americans during the early war years. The Zoot Suit was more than a fashion statement. The suit became a powerful symbol of youthful masculinity and pride, reflecting a culture that celebrated style and confidence. It stood in stark opposition to the discriminatory Jim and “Juan” Crow laws that sought to undermine the rights of African American and Mexican American men. While white men often saw this bold fashion choice as a marker of criminality, for many, it represented a defiance and a refusal to be marginalized.
Though the zoot suit would be donned by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, it was “not a costume or uniform from the world of entertainment,” the Chicago big-band trumpeter and clothier Harold Fox once said. “It came right off the street and out of the ghetto.’’ You couldn’t buy these at a department store. These were suits bought two sizes too large, and then tailored to the wearer.
It was June 1943 when the riots erupted. For over a week, white U.S. soldiers and sailors roamed Los Angeles, assaulting supposedly “unpatriotic” Mexican & African -American men, recognizable by their notably voluminous attire. Wartime rations on fabric made wearing oversized clothing an inherently disobedient act. Now, they're museum-archival worthy.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere: Martin Luther King Jr. said this in a letter from Birmingham jail in 1963 right after he was arrested for "parading without a permit" after participating in a march to City Hall. The letter was sent to white Alabama clergymen and shaped how we know the civil rights movement today, highlighting nonviolent protests and criticizing those in power to make change. This led to the infamous march in Washington DC, which looked like this: Notice how they're dressed?
This is the era of civil suits. Those participating in the marches aimed to send a message of respectability, one that sought to elevate the Black community in the eyes of the broader public. The rallies and marches during this period of respectability politics saw people donning their Sunday best.
Michaela Angela Davis expressed it perfectly: “During that era, respectability and dignity were paramount in any Civil Rights movement. People often wore their best clothes for protests—women dressed in dresses and proper shoes, while men wore suits and ties. Everyone wore hard shoes; there were no Nikes. Everyone was dressed to promote a sense of dignity.” And this remained the core focus of the movement.
When the Black Panther Party entered the scene, the conversation around the civil movement changed, and so did their clothes. The motto of the Black Panther Party (BPP) was “Freedom by any means necessary.” The movement focused on power and self-defense, which led to the adoption of specific attire. Founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966, the BPP established a powerful uniform to confront police brutality head-on. Their bold attire—afros, blue shirts, black pants, leather jackets, sunglasses, and berets—was a deliberate statement. The afro defiantly challenged Eurocentric beauty standards, the beret proclaimed non-conformity, and the sunglasses masked their identities while asserting their presence. Leather epitomized strength and resilience.
Still follows the core message of respectability, but with a don't fuck with us kind of edge. This look tapped into the toughness and leather of the counter-culture. It was intimidating. It’s military-oriented. It demanded change.
“They were kind of the antithesis of Martin Luther King…it’s an interesting tension because in many ways they were so radical but then their clothing was…so uniform, it was so regimented,” said Mikaila Brown, fashion anthropologist and professor at Cornell University. “So it was a straddle…it’s this cognitive dissonance that most African Americans feel of, ‘I can only give you so much of who I am, where I’ve got to balance it a little bit in order for you to accept me.’ That really served the community because [the Panthers] were feeding people and they were organizing in really disciplined ways but then they were also so radical because they were Black men walking in the street with guns in the face of police. That duality is amazing and I think it’s just exemplary of the dual psyche that Black people have to have sometimes to operate in America.”
The 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Performance performed and organized by Kendrick Lamar is one of my favorite halftime shows to come from the NFL. Not only did his performance send a clear message to Americans, (133.5 million to be exact) but so did his outfit.
This is how I interpreted his attire. Starting from the top: Lamar adorned his New Era black fitted with two diamond brooches from Rahaminov Diamonds, including their Marquise Cut Angel Wing and a Half Moon Sunset Diamond pin. The angel wing symbolizes the people lost to brutality and injustice. The half moon symbolizes the sun is setting on the 1%, that the revolution is coming whether they like it or not.
Lamar also wore a Martine Rose bespoke leather varsity jacket with production company “pgLang” sprawled across the back while “Gloria” — a reference to the GNX song of the same name — is placed across the front. “Gloria” means Glory in Spanish. The three g’s in the Spanish Colonization Era are God, gold and glory. Glory meant becoming a superior power to the other European (white) powers.
The true star of the show was his Celine Bellbottoms. Bellbottoms have a rich history in the fight against injustice. The fashion of bell trousers has returned since the 1960s, this time both for men and women. In these years, young people began to express disappointment with politics and society, and a culture of rebellion was born. A culture that has only grown stronger today.
If you're wondering how you can protest through your fashion, my best advice is to dress unapologetically. Wear all the colors, or wear all black. Try maximalism, or try minimalism. Being yourself to the fullest extent, as loudly as you can, is the best way to make a powerful statement without saying anything at all.
