Illinois Humanities and the South Side Home Movie Project present Chicago Style, a multidimensional exploration of Black fashion on Chicago’s South Side from the 1930s through the 80s, culminating in a fashion show and the debut of a film curated and scored by Ayana Contreras on September 21st at the Green Line Performing Arts Center. By intertwining history, community, and creativity, Chicago Style fosters intergenerational dialogue, community cohesion, and cultural identity through the powerful language of fashion.

Join us for a fashion-filled afternoon where history collides with the present. Dress up, see the looks, explore clothing from a local vendor, enjoy refreshments, and experience stories of Chicago's style.

Chicago Style brings together a five-person cohort of intergenerational community members with diverse expertise and connections to fashion. Under the direction of educators, community organizers, and fashion experts AnnMarie Brown and Edvetté Jones, the Chicago Style Cohort engaged with the South Side Home Movie Project archive including collections shown below, local thrift and vintage stores, personal histories, and fashion historians to re-envision historical elements of everyday Black fashion. Through the program, the Cohort will examine their relationships to fashion and community, interpreting these threads into looks for the fashion show and a special media series.

Chicago Style is part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration and series of exhibitions and events that highlight the voices and stories that are part of Chicago’s unique artistic heritage and creative communities. Continuing into 2025, Art Design Chicago takes place across 30 Chicago neighborhoods and several suburban communities and showcases the work of hundreds of artists.