As the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute Exhibition invites us to reflect on the term “Black Dandy” in this year’s exhibit, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, if there’s ever been a time to make travel plans to see it, this is the one.
On view from May 10 through October 26, the exhibit focuses on menswear, Black designers, and the social anomaly that is the Black dandy. It offers a thoughtful recognition of how Black designers have shaped fashion—and how Black men have used style to navigate socially oppressive environments across time, ultimately influencing culture and shifting sociopolitical perspectives in powerful ways.
The timing of this nationally celebrated exhibit feels personally synchronous for me. On a local RVA level, I’ve also been included in The Valentine Museum’s exhibit, Fancy: Costume, Characters, and the Richmond Masque, on view from May 10 through January 26, 2026. The piece featured is one I wore, created by my dearly departed friend Elisa Rumford—a gifted designer and the force behind the three-part, RVA-beloved brand Ap0cene.
In her memory, I invite you to visit The Valentine to honor her talent and a friendship many of us were lucky enough to share.
I’m also immensely proud of my friend, collaborator, and the exhibit’s Costume Curator, Nicole Gabor, who told me she’s watched guests make a beeline from the entrance to get a closer look at my “Cowperson Costume.”
Halloween 2023. Ellisa’s design creativity knew no bounds as she wears another design of her own dressed as an Amazon Package, made out of actual amazon boxes.
Being invited to be part of The Valentine’s collection—with their procurement of my 2023 Halloween costume—is a huge honor. It’s given me space to reflect on how I’ve shown up in RVA fashion history as a Queer Black male.
As someone who has long been a deep fashion contemplator and follower of the annual MET Costume Institute Gala, I’ve spent years refining how I engage with these exhibitions—thinking not just about the fashion itself, but about the broader societal impact these moments have on the public, especially for those of us who don’t always have the means to get to New York and experience them firsthand.
For this podcast edition of EXPRESS YO’SELF RVA, I took time to speak with two Black male fashion creatives about this moment and what it means for people like us—Markie Colden, designer and creative director of his brand PLV, and Lamar Burrell Jr., aka LAM, a rising stylist in the RVA fashion community.
Last March, Colden presented his first solo fashion show, Black Boys Lost. He’s been developing PLV since 2013, so the show was highly anticipated by his loyal followers—many of whom showed up in droves, forming a long line outside the venue before the doors even opened.
As I continue working with my partner, Shareef Mosby, on our own line, VICTIM15, this moment feels historic. It’s one of those rare times where we, as Black men in fashion, feel a certain permission to tell our stories in more visually and culturally impactful ways. We’ve all helped one another with various projects over the years here in Richmond, and that shared support is part of what makes this moment resonate.
You can view photos of the collection under the podcast link.
Since the unveiling of the MET exhibition theme last year, I’ve been digging into a collection of books related to Black male identity to better understand the topic at its core. In addition to reading Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity by Monica L. Miller—the guest curator for the exhibition and whose book served as a primary inspiration—I’ve also been reading We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity by bell hooks, along with two works by Jor-El Caraballo: Self-Care for Black Men and Meditations for Black Men.
What this exhibit offers, to me, is a profound opportunity for collective racial healing—through the acknowledgment of the energy and influence Black Dandyism has contributed to American culture. Every piece featured in the show is designed by a Black creative.
As a Black man, I’ve felt a kind of permission to understand myself more deeply—something I believe has long been denied, given the pressures of a society rooted in white patriarchal values. Those values have historically overshadowed the reality of how upstanding people like me, and many others, have always been.
The books I mentioned earlier have given powerful language to feelings that have sat dormant in me—unspoken, unresolved—until this cultural moment created space for them. This exhibit stands as a reminder that Black men have always contributed with excellence and intention, even when history books failed to tell the truth.
Main photo: Jon Cope stands with his EXPRESS YO’SELF RVA podcast guests: Markie Colden (center), founder of the fashion brand PLV, and Lamar Burrell Jr., his fellow fashion show stylist. The two produced Colden’s first solo fashion show this past March, titled Black Boys Lost. Both guests are pictured wearing white button-down pieces from the featured collection.
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See the Full PLV Collection from “Black Boys Lost”
Photos by Julie Adams Photography
