Ebony Fashion Fair Information From Seattle Reporter

Article written by: Rodrick Rainey
Posted on: April 10, 2006

Ebony Fashion Fair is a confluence of popular culture, racial uplift, community pride, tantalizing entertainment and good business.

The elaborate roadshow, which is in its 48th year and travels to 179 cities, celebrates style, glamour and the fervent belief that dressing up and dressing well are good for the soul. It raises money for local charities, especially those that focus on education.

Fashion Fair was developed by Eunice Johnson, who along with her husband, John, founded Johnson Publishing. John Johnson died in 2005, leaving a legacy that includes not only the fashion extravaganza and Ebony magazine, but also Jet magazine and Fashion Fair Cosmetics.

Their daughter, Linda Johnson Rice, is president and CEO of the Chicago company. And it falls to her to usher Ebony Fashion Fair into the future.

The fair has matured into a cultural institution that has raised more than $52 million for local and national charities.

But it is showing the effects of age. Its audience no longer is filled with the kind of young people who once vamped in their own designer duds, giving the show its heady aura. The show’s arrival in a city no longer generates the anticipation it once did. How can it, when cable television now provides a steady loop of runway footage?

“We had the creme de la creme,” says former model Audrey Smaltz, who was Fashion Fair’s onstage commentator in the 1970s. “Sidney Poitier came to the show. Bill Cosby came to the show. Muhammad Ali came to the show.”

Old-guard designer names Givenchy, Bill Blass, Thierry Mugler dominate this year’s show, titled “Fit to Be Fabulous.” Big-buzz labels such as Marc Jacobs, Balenciaga and Prada are scarce.

“We have to reach out to younger audiences. They need to see how they can see themselves as black women,” Rice says. “Here is a show showcasing everything about African-American women that is positive.”

Rice also is interested in incorporating brands spawned by hip-hop, such as Sean John, Rocawearand Baby Phat. “I just have to look to see if it’s appropriate for us,” Rice says. “We’re not trying to push the real provocative edge.”

Fashion Fair was conceived in 1956 when the wife of Dillard University’s president asked John Johnson to sponsor a fundraising fashion show for New Orleans’ Flint-Goodrich Hospital, which served black patients. That show’s success led to the traveling production that exists today.