What a long work week!!! Thank God we survived!!!! 😂😎
Today Black History
Lesson is about Patrick Kelly (September 24, 1954-January 1, 1990).
Born in Vicksburg
Mississippi, Kelly attended Jackson Sate University where he studied art but
later on he decided to attend Parsons School of Design. At the age of 18 he
moved to Atlanta and he sold reworked, recycled clothes and he also served as
an unpaid widow window dress for the famous Yves Saint Laurent. In the year
1988 the YSL chairman Pierre Berge sponsored Kelly to form the womenswear
fashion house which was called Patrick Kelly Paris.
While working from Paris
Kelly produced many collections for five years. He received some financial
backing from the US based fashion conglomerate Warnaco in July 1987 with that
help he was able to hire a staff and eventually achieve a profit of 7.2 million
per year. In 1988 he achieved his greatest accomplishment ever he became the
first American and the first person of color to be admitted as a member of the
Chambre syndicale.
This accomplishment
allowed his designs to be sold in upscale retailers which included Henri
Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdales. His designs were also worn by
celebrities that included Isabella Rossellini, Bette Davis, Cicely Tyson and
the famous Grace Jones. His designs stood out because he used many bright
colors, he used ribbons and buttons that sometimes suggested a sense of whimsy
and joy while most of the times it was addressing difficult issues of race.
Majority of the time this was pointed out because Kelly would give his audience
a tiny brown doll with molded black hair that could be described as "
pickaninny".
Kelly died at the age 35
on New Year's Day. His cause of death was reported as an bone marrow disease
and a brain tumor but the actual cause of death was complications of AIDS. He
will be remembered for being an extremely hard worker that gained his
reputation for demanding his staff to match his work ethic. He also was a strong
advocate for models of color he made it his duty to include them in his
work.
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