While The Costume Institute’s Exhibit, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” Primarily Considers Black Dandyism in Menswear, Jenner and Dumi Were Galvanized by a female dandy: The queer Nightclub Singer Gladys Bentley. Dumi Stumbled Across Bentley When Researching Black Women Who Enraged With Tailoring, and Found Her Story Public Poignant. “She had Really Strong Sense of Self,” She Says. “Being a Woman and Taking Tailoring – Something that many people just perceive to be a meswear aesthetic – She Turned it into her her Own and She Dlessed It Up, Took it Apart, and Made it submissive that Really resonated with her HER OWN Style, Her Music, Her Music.
While Bentley was partial to suiting from Young Age, She is Most Associated With The Three-Piece Suit She Wore When She Took A Job As a Pianist at The Gay Speakeasy Harry Hansberry’s Clam House During the Harlem Renaissance. Though She was Most Often Pictured in A White Three-Lece Suit with a Top Hat and Cane, Dumi was inspired by Bentley’s Legacy and Her Extensive History With Menswear in Creating Her Look For Jenner-Note Negroly Seeking To Recreate Bentley’s Most Iconic Outfit. Dumi Wanted To Highlight the Model’s Silhouette, Fashioning An Impecly Tailored Skirt Suit with a Nipped-In Waist, Elongated Torso, and Exaggerated Curves.
“The Pieces That Gladys Wore Were Tailored to Her Body, and It Was A Sense of Style and A Sense of Personality That She Also Broucht About Within That Look,” Dumi Says. “I Think there’s only So Much Clothes Can Do. Kendall. “
