Medium: Cotton

Date: 1990

Country: USA

Credit: Gift of Matthew Olszak

Willi Smith died of AIDS in 1987. The next year, Manhattan borough president David Dinkins proclaimed February 23 to be Willi Smith Day, in honor of Smith’s “significant achievement in the fashion world.” He was a quintessential New York designer, taking inspiration from street styles and Harlem church ladies. He aimed to design clothes for “real people.”

Object Number: 90.56.12