Writer and humorist Ralph Gardner Jr. referred to American fashion brand Brooks Brothers as “the bedrock of our republic.” But to whom does “our” refer? Does it include me? Brooks Brothers has been a presence on the American fashion landscape since 1818. How can a two-hundred-year-old brand not have a connection to slavery? The company’s clientele included wealthy white enslavers who, exercising their power and privilege, bought livery for their domestics at the menswear emporium. My research revealed that some of that livery ended up on the backs of enslaved people. This collection uses that history to challenge Brooks Brothers’ unsullied reputation and make a claim on American identity. Much of the collection is made from repurposed white oxford cloth button-down shirts (OCBDs) transformed into jumpsuits, dusters, and shorts. Upcycled patriotic t-shirts, reimagined into trousers and paired with garments made from the repurposed OCBDs, comprise another key primary source for this collection. Using these t-shirts and Brooks Brothers shirting, I aim to queer, de-whiten, and reappropriate symbols associated with Brooks Brothers, which fashion historian Alan Fusser calls “the protectorate of America’s traditional fashion.” The collection title references the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph “The Soiling of Old Glory,” depicting white teenager Joseph Rakes assaulting black lawyer and civil rights activist Ted Landsmark with a flagpole bearing the American flag.

View The Soiling of the OCBD look book here.

Photography: Franck H. Godefroy
Models: Lauryn Grubbs, Shamah Levy
Makeup: Michelle Cameau
Design & Styling: Jonathan Michael Square