Entertainment

Fashion, History, and Shopping: Ebony Fashion Fair Show Auction

Published

11 years ago

June 1, 2015

Notable pieces from the Ebony Fashion Fair collection: 1.Nina Ricci Couture Red Corded Lace Evening Ensemble 2.Yves Saint Laurent Evening Ensemble 3.Oscar De La Renta Sequined Evening Gown.

Notable pieces from the Ebony Fashion Fair collection (l to r): Nina Ricci Couture; Yves Saint Laurent; and Oscar De La Renta.

By Mary L. Datcher
Special to the NNPA via The Chicago Defender

Fashion fanatics will be granted access to the treasures from the Ebony Fashion Fair Show vault on June 10th at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. This final installation of the three-part auction series gives fashionistas and history buffs an opportunity to own a piece of history.

“My mother created the Ebony Fashion Fair Show tour because she wanted every women to experience fashion. This auction takes that access to the next level,” says Johnson Chairman Linda Johnson Rice, the daughter of Eunice and John Johnson, the founder of the company that publishes Ebony and Jet and owns Fashion Fair Cosmetics. “The best of the best from the Ebony Fashion Fair Show collection is featured in this auction. When a woman wears one of these beautifully constructed garments to a gala, it becomes a part of living history. We’ve had these pieces stored away for decades, why not let others have an opportunity to have a piece of history—to own it, wear it and enjoy it?”

When Eunice W. Johnson turned the “Fashion Fair” feature in Ebony magazine into a charity event, the Ebony Fashion Fair Show was born. Both the publication and event created an inclusive consumer culture for African Americans to explore design, art and fashion. Five decades later, the Ebony Fashion Fair tour is known as the largest traveling fashion runway show in the world and has raised over 55 million dollars for charity.

Treasures from Ebony Fashion Fair Show will be the third sale Leslie Hindman Auctioneers has conducted for the Ebony collection, the most recent having taken place in 2013. The sale will include over 500 lots of garments that didn’t make the first or second cut, but only because they are the “best of the best,” essential pieces from the Ebony collection making their debut at auction.

“We are excited to present these works of art to the world and more importantly to our community,” says Johnson CEO, Desiree Rogers. “From choosing an auction house that’s close to home to setting the starting prices, we wanted to be sure that this auction would be accessible to a wide cross section of people.”

Bidders will now have a chance to compete for a piece of fashion history from both an iconic cultural brand and the world’s fashion capitals of Paris, London, Milan, Rome and New York.

Some of the most prized garments in the collection are a Yves Saint Laurent black sequined gown from the Fall/Winter 1990 collection and a Yves Saint Laurent yellow faille Domino coat ensemble from the Fall/Winter 1983 collection. Each of these looks were included in the first complete retrospective of the Yves Saint Laurent oeuvre at the Petit Palais in Paris in 2010.

Johnson Publishing Company currently holds approximately 300 pieces that will remain in its archives. This is in addition to the 67 pieces included in the Inspiring Beauty Tour currently scheduled through August 2016. The full schedule is available at http://chicagohistory.org/inspiringbeauty/.

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Reporter II

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

Published

5 days ago

January 2, 2026

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post: Week of December 24 – 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

Published

2 weeks ago

December 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Bling It On: Holiday Lights Brighten Dark Nights All Around the Bay

On the block where I grew up in the 1960s, it was an unwritten agreement among the owners of those row homes to put up holiday lights: around the front window and door, along the porch banister, etc. Some put the Christmas tree in the window, and you could see it through the open slats of the blinds.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

Christmas lights on a house near the writer’s residence in Oakland. Photo by Joseph Shangosola.

By Wanda Ravernell

I have always liked Christmas lights.

From my desk at my front window, I feel a quiet joy when the lights on the house across the street come on just as night falls.

My father, the renegade of the block, made no effort with lights, so my mother hung a wreath with two bells in the window. Just enough to let you know someone was at home.

Two doors down was a different story. Mr. King, the overachiever of the block, went all out for Christmas: The tree in the window, the lights along the roof and a Santa on his sleigh on the porch roof.

There are a few ‘Mr. Kings’ in my neighborhood.

In particular is the gentleman down the street. For Halloween, they erected a 10-foot skeleton in the yard, placed ‘shrunken heads’ on fence poles, pumpkins on steps and swooping bat wings from the porch roof. They have not held back for Christmas.

The skeleton stayed up this year, this time swathed in lights, as is every other inch of the house front. It is a light show that rivals the one in the old Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.

I would hate to see their light bill…

As the shortest day of the year approaches, make Mr. King’s spirit happy and get out and see the lights in your own neighborhood, shopping plazas and merchant areas.

Here are some places recommended by 510 Families and Johnny FunCheap.

Oakland

Oakland’s Temple Hill Holiday Lights and Gardens is the place to go for a drive-by or a leisurely stroll for a religious holiday experience. Wear a jacket, because it’s chilly outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 4220 Lincoln Ave., particularly after dark. The gardens are open all day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the lights on from dusk until closing.

Alameda

Just across the High Street Bridge from Oakland, you’ll find Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda.

On Thompson Avenue between High Street and Fernside drive, displays range from classic trees and blow-ups to a comedic response to the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Lights turn on at dusk and can be seen through the first week in January.

Berkeley

The Fourth Street business district from University Avenue to Virginia Street in Berkeley comes alive with lights beginning at 5 p.m. through Jan. 1, 2026.

There’s also a display at one house at 928 Arlington St., and, for children, the Tilden Park Carousel Winter Wonderland runs through Jan. 4, 2026. Closed Christmas Day. For more information and tickets, call (510) 559-1004.

Richmond

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display, featuring a recreation of the town of Bethlehem with life-size figures, is open through Dec. 26 at 7501 Moeser Lane in El Cerrito.

Marin County

In Marin, the go-to spot for ‘oohs and ahhs’ is the Holiday Light Spectacular from 4-9 p.m. through Jan. 4, 2026, at Marin Center Fairgrounds at 10 Ave of the Flags in San Rafael through Jan. 4. Displays dazzle, with lighted walkways and activities almost daily. For more info, go to: www.marincounty.gov/departments/cultural-services/department-sponsored-events/holiday-light-spectacular

The arches at Marin County Civic Center at 3501 Civic Center Dr. will also be illuminated nightly.

San Francisco

Look for light installations in Golden Gate Park, chocolate and cheer at Ghirardelli Square, and downtown, the ice rink in Union Square and the holiday tree in Civic Center Plaza are enchanting spots day and night. For neighborhoods, you can’t beat the streets in Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, and Bernal Heights. For glee and over-the-top glitz there’s the Castro, particularly at 68 Castro Street.

Livermore

The winner of the 2024 Great Light Flight award, Deacon Dave has set up his display with a group of creative volunteers at 352 Hillcrest Avenue since 1982. See it through Jan. 1, 2026. For more info, go to https://www.casadelpomba.com

Fremont

Crippsmas Place is a community of over 90 decorated homes with candy canes passed out nightly through Dec. 31. A tradition since 1967, the event features visits by Mr. and Mrs. Claus on Dec. 18 and Dec. 23 and entertainment by the Tri-M Honor Society at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22. Chrippsmas Place is located on: Cripps Place, Asquith Place, Nicolet Court, Wellington Place, Perkins Street, and the stretch of Nicolet Avenue between Gibraltar Drive and Perkins Street.