Bid On It: Ebony’s Fashion Fair Archives

In W’s March issue, Vanessa Lawrence profiled Eunice Johnson, a founder of Ebony magazine and a role model for African-Americans in fashion. In the late 50’s Johnson spearheaded Ebony’s traveling Fashion Fair, a city-hopping fashion show that featured a cast of African American models and brought trunks of European couture to fans of the magazine via a Fashion Week-worthy runway production. Now, readers and fans of Johnson have a chance to own a piece of the legendary fashion event.

On March 19th Ebony’s Fashion Fair will open its archives to the public with an auction of more than 700 unique pieces from designers included in the fair over the years, including Oscar de la Renta, Pierre Balmain, and Yves Saint Laurent. “I looked for iconic and glamorous pieces that exemplified Ebony and told the story of Fashion Fair,” says Casey Monda of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, who selected pieces from more than 3000 samples in the collection.

For more information and to bid in the auction go to Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago (catalogues.lesliehindman.com) and Live Auctioneers (liveauctioneers.com).

Photo: courtesy of Casey Monda at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers