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Pretty Powerful: The History Of Richmond Women In Fashion

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Like the garments they’ve made and worn, the relationship between women and fashion is deeply interwoven with the history of Richmond. A new exhibit at The Valentine Museum, “Pretty Powerful: Fashion and Virginia Women,” explores the individual stories of these designers and the women who wore their clothing.

The exhibition contains garments from the 19th century to the current day. Speaking to Kristen Stewart, curator of the exhibit, RVA Magazine got a behind the scenes look at some of the fashions worn in Richmond through the years and how women have shaped and evolved that industry.

Courtesy Jay Paul/Richmond magazine

“In Richmond and elsewhere, milliners and dressmakers were one of the first woman to serve as independent business owners and entrepreneurs,” Stewart said. She learned this from reviewing archival copies of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Richmond Inquirer and reading the classifieds.

Stewart said the women used the language of entrepreneurship in their ads, presenting themselves as experts, rather than in the “subservient language that we often see with people presenting themselves as a service provider. They’re making themselves the sought after quantity.”

One of the women featured in the exhibit, Sarah Sue, was a prominent Richmond milliner, who created some of the most vibrant and creative hats from silk, straw, flowers, lace, and ribbon inspired by her trips abroad. Sue worked for the largest department store in the south, Miller & Rhoads, from the early 1930s until her retirement in 1973. Stewart described her as a world traveler, adding that she would “justify that travel as inspiration and pull her themes from her experiences.”

Courtesy Jay Paul/Richmond magazine

Among the exhibits is Sue’s hat collection, “The American West: Land of Enchantment”, released in the fall of 1970. The hats in this collection capitalized on a growing interest in world fashion, bringing new elements to American hat design.

The interest in world fashion turned Richmond into a melting pot of various influences from far away and close to home. Contemporary designer Carter Johnston, who launched Grove Avenue women’s clothing boutique CCH Collection in 2012 with her sister Alston Daigh, took her inspiration from the women closest to her.

Stewart said that Johnston’s pieces “were inspired by the style [of her] family members,” adding, “CCH Collection was actually named after her grandmother Catherine Claybourne Hall.”

In comparison, designer Ottie Windmueller took inspiration from far off lands and shared that love of travel with future generations of designers. Windmueller served as chairwoman of VCU’s department of Fashion Illustration and Costume design, now The Department of Fashion Design and Merchandising, from 1965 to 1976. Stewart said, “Her main innovation was the practice of traveling with design students, taking them to Europe and New York for inspiration. She’d also bring in talent from those places to come in and speak to students,” something that was highly unusual but now is standard practice. Windmueller was a world traveler and a refugee from Germany during World War II, something that Stewart thought inspired her unusual approach as a professor.

Western interest in foreign designs also benefited foreign designer, Stewart said, pointing to Hanae Mori. Stewart described her as “one of the earliest Japanese designers to work in the Persian tradition selling to a western market.” In 1965, Mori presented her first collection in New York titled ”East meets West”; in 1975, she showed her collection in Paris.

In many circumstances, women’s skills transcended their race and social status. Franny Criss was one of these success stories, according to Stewart. “Franny Criss was an African American dressmaker who grew up in Richmond. She started as a seamstress who traveled home to home, as many did,” Stewart said, before she became successful enough to open a business on Leigh St.

Criss’s fame grew quickly, and she worked with high-end clients white and black. Stewart ascribed her success to the wealth she built in Richmond, which even let her purchase a townhouse in Harlem near Madam C.J. Walker, the first millionairesses in America.

Courtesy Jay Paul/Richmond magazine

Throughout the whole exhibit, pieces showcasing the journey and achievements of Richmond fashion designers and wearers are on display. One garment in particular, an Anne Klein skirt suit, speaks to the contemporary age of female leaders and entrepreneurs. Stewart said it was on short-term loan from Dress for Success Central Virginia, a program that helps local women with professional clothing to improve their position. After the show, it will be returned to the nonprofit for the women they help, Stewart said. “We are very excited to have a physical representation of that mission and we feel that that mission fits the narrative of the show very well,” she added.

The design and organization of the show are remarkable in showcasing significant garments from the past and present. It is easy to get lost in the fantasy of how these innovative women worked to make the fashion scene both in Richmond and internationally what it is today. The work of Sarah Sue, Ottie Windmueller, Franny Criss, and many others can be seen at the “Pretty Powerful: Fashion and Virginia Women” exhibit now until it closes on January 27th, 2019.

Cover image courtesy Fabric Department in St. Luke’s Emporium, 1905 Graphic reproduction, V.88.20.22, Independent Order of St. Luke Collection.

Other photos courtesy Jay Paul/Richmond magazine.

Intersectional Wonder Women Art Show Aims to Inspire & Empower Tonight at The HofGarden

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This evening, celebrate women with an art show at The HofGarden, a benefit event for Safe Harbor, a Henrico County-based nonprofit that serves survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault. The show centers around the theme of Intersectional Wonder Women, creating a space that stresses inclusivity and the diversity of experience and identity.

“When women support women, amazing shit happens,” said Sylvia Mallory, owner of Girl Gang Media and a founder of the event. “We have a beautiful show. I’m really excited to share it with Richmond.”

Ashley Loth – Untitled – $300
Ashley Loth – Untitled

The project is eight months in the making and began largely as a response to the 2016 election. It is a direct action for change, an effort that started small but grew into a project with an extensive team, more than 20 featured artists, and a long list of sponsors. Mallory said it’s a completely, 100 percent donated event. The community came together to put on the show without any prior funding.

“I should say it surprised me, but it really didn’t. Everybody wanted to pitch in any way they could,” said Mallory.

Among those who joined the project is Kortenay Gardiner, a community organizer for the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, who has become a key team member and chairperson of the show. “It’s really important with where I work, with Safe Harbor, and even our theme, to envision a better world,” said Gardiner.

I sat down with Mallory and Gardiner on the third floor of Richmond’s all-women coworking space, The Broad. Everything there is women made, created, and conceptualized—from the light fixtures to the art, to the books on shelves. Even the music playing over the speakers features all female artists.

It’s a primer for the event to come, and though the space is modern and comfortable, with enough aesthetic appeal to be the “after” shot on a home renovation show, it’s a reminder of how few spaces exist exclusively for women.

Deja Belardo – Sanity – $300
Deja Belardo – Sanity

Mallory and Gardiner emphasize that this is not just a show to promote women, but to promote inclusive representation of all women, embracing a diversity of race, age, religion, and sexual orientation. That’s where intersectionality comes in.

“Intersectionality is an analytic framework. It tries to look at the interlocking system of power, and its impact on the most marginalized,” said Gardiner. “It’s about the challenges we share, along with the differences.”

“It’s about awareness, recognizing your privileges, and moving to action,” said Mallory. “Sometimes the best course of action is to provide space and get out of the way.”

Intersectionality has been a buzzword these last few years, and it’s a crucial step in resetting the assumptions that are often made about feminism. Feminism that is exclusively about white, cis, straight women, isn’t feminism, and the Intersectional Wonder Women art show is a testament to that. Like The Broad, like the Rihanna playing over the speakers and the passion with which Gardiner and Mallory speak about the event, it carves out a space that says ‘I hear you, I’m here. I’ve got your back.’

Mahari Chabwera – Grace Of Yemeyah

The HoF is donating their venue for the night, and each $10 ticket will go directly to Safe Harbor, while each art sale offers a 20 percent direct donation. There will be gift baskets available to win in a drawing that is comprised of almost $4,000 worth of donated goods and services from around the community.

Richmond artist Virginia Strobach donated all of her services–including the illustration of the event poster–and her art, as well. Women-matter donated “Face Behind the Mask” for the drawing, a piece valued at $2,000 by Kraft Art.

The art varies from $25 to $16,000.  “There’s a nice range, and there’s accessibility to everything. The average price of work is about $250-300,” said Mallory.

The work itself is diverse, ranging from multimedia, paintings, illustrations, ceramic work, and photography. “Every time I look at them, I fall in love with each one over, and over, and over,” said Mallory.

Jon "Sketch" Achelpohl – She Has Fight – $200
Jon “Sketch” Achelpohl – She Has Fight

A favorite of hers is Rebecca Whitson’s piece “don’t grab me by the pussy,” a mannequin donning a necklace of bloody tampons. Mallory said that’s a work she wants to spend some time with, especially because of the dialogue it creates. “It felt like I was re-traumatized all over after a self-admitted rapist was accepted and put into office.”

Rebecca Whitson – Don't Grab Me By The Pussy – $325
Rebecca Whitson – Don’t Grab Me By The Pussy

Mary Maupai, development director at Safe Harbor, agreed that show starts an important conversation.

“Each person’s story is really unique, and that’s obviously shown through the artwork that the artists are going to be exhibiting tomorrow night,” said Maupai.  “We are all phenomenal women in our own right.”

Safe Harbor plays a huge role in deepening that dialogue in the community through advocacy, education, and support.  “We provide everything from shelter, counseling, court advocacy, hospital accompaniment, children’s counseling, adult counseling, support groups, and…outreach and education in the community,” said Maupai.

Box office hit Wonder Woman dropped in 2017 as the team was voting on the theme, and while the three of us agreed that we love the movie–it’s hard to resist an island of Amazons, after all–this art show exists to further the social narrative the film introduced.

It’s not tied to any arbitrary hetero plotlines, lack of women, or racial erasure.  “The intersectional part of Wonder Women is reclaiming it,” said Mallory.

Nickolai Walko – Ophelia – $700
Nickolai Walko – Ophelia

“It’s to correct for the erasure of black women in the movie, in the media. Changing it. Centering it a little bit more around us, balance,” said Gardiner. “I want someone to see the superhero within- indestructible no matter what happens. You have the ability and the possibility to overcome.”

The show is about a community of women, a community of people. Gardiner and Mallory say they have Intersectional Wonder Women to thank for their friendship. Maupai, who has been working closely with the team to plan the show, said the same thing: she wouldn’t have met these women, formed these connections and had these conversations any other way.

“Hopefully some of those conversations will not only happen tomorrow night, but they will be carried home and will start a deeper dialogue about the way we perceive each other, how we treat each other, and honor in each other’s story and journey,” said Maupai.

The Intersectional Wonder Women Art Show takes place tonight, May 2 from 7-11 pm at The HofGarden on West Broad Street. You can buy tickets here.

Photos By: Intersectional Wonder Women Artshow

Thousands Showed in Richmond for the One Year Anniversary of the Women’s March

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An estimated two thousand people descended on Carytown in Richmond today, joining demonstrators from all over the US to mark the one year anniversary of the Women’s March; the largest single day protest in U.S. history. Last year, more than 3.5 million people protested in marches across the globe, spearheaded by the Women’s March on Washington DC. This Saturday, only a day shy of the one year anniversary, Richmond came out in droves for the Women’s March RVA, a grassroots effort created to affirm Richmond’s humanity and demonstrate a conscious resistance against hate, bigotry, and the oppression of the marginalized.

Photo by LS

“We want America to be kind again,” said Mary Leffler, an occupational therapist at Hanover Public Schools, the woman behind the RVA anniversary march’s inception. When Leffler started the Facebook group this December, she had no idea if the march would even get off the ground. But by the day of the march, the group had over three thousand members.

Given the current political climate, Richmond marchers united in their cry for social change even though different individuals came with different agendas. Yet according to Leffler, the unifying message is clear, “We’re still here and we’re not going anywhere.”

As thousands of people marched in Richmond, Roanoke, Williamsburg, and Norfolk, attention turned away from the nation’s capital, where far fewer people were expected than the year before. According to Monica Morris, a well-known community organizer and one of the three event planners, this does not indicate the death of a movement. Rather, it is the product of a shift from national organization to more local grassroots mobilizing.

Photo by AM

Morris, one of the organizers of the DC march last year, chose to march in Richmond this year instead. While the Women’s march was a catalyst for a new generation of advocates nationally, they’re now turning their attention back home and focusing on local issues.

This focus on local Virginia issues was a leading theme for the anniversary of the Women’s March. From support for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) – an amendment first introduced in US Congress in 1923 – to the ascendency of women in Virginia politics following November’s election – and the protesting of anti-women bills in the current session of the General Assembly – Richmond women and their allies came out to Carytown to make a change that ultimately starts at home.

As the crowd marched from one end of Carytown to the other; they were joined by Governor Ralph Northam and Abigail Spanberger, the former CIA Operations Officer running for Congress in Virginia’s 7th district.  The crowd overwhelmed sidewalks and streets, drowning Carytown in cheers, noisemakers, and an eclectic mix of call-and-response chants – turning the shopping district into a wall of noise and banners.

Photo by LS

Liz Holland, a marcher decked out in her pink pussy hat and an armful of signs said that even though she was at the DC march in 2017, this year she wanted to participate locally.

“I feel like this last election showed us that what happens locally matters a great deal to prevent what happens nationally from having too huge of an impact negatively on our country,” said Holland.  “We have to fight it from the ground up. That’s the place to start.”

Another marcher, Roselle Clarke, was also in DC last year, but said she believed that the key to moving Virginia in the right direction is to keep the momentum building in Richmond. As a member of Liberal Women of Chesterfield County (LWCC), Clarke said that they help to get candidates into office. “Taking ownership for our own backyard seems to be the best approach today.”

Photo by AM

Caroline Ross, Clarke’s friend of 50 years, said they have been doing activism for as long as they’ve known each other. “It’s depressing to have to repeat some of them over again, but we also feel like there is an opportunity here for our daughters and our grandkids to understand that we can’t take things for granted,” Ross said. “Silence doesn’t work.”

A majority of the attendees were sporting signs supporting the ERA, a consistent theme throughout the march.  One group, led by Eileen Davis, a frontrunner of the organization Women-Matter, hoisted an original banner from the 1970s. The fight to pass the ERA, an amendment to the US Constitution designed to guarantee gender equality, has been a decade’s long slog. Donna Granski, another march attendee, said she has been working on passing the ERA since 1978.

Photo by AM

“That’s a long time,” said Granski. “But every year we’re getting closer to the finish line.” 

The cause has transcended generations and was on display today. One large ERA banner was supported by a long line of women, many of them young women. Each of them said they were excited to be there, especially with a turnout even bigger than expected.

Morris said that the rise of women in Virginia politics, “most decidedly came out of the march.” Last year some were motivated by comments made by male politicians, the last boost they needed before they themselves ran. “I think it’s a lot of pent-up women energy,” said Morris. It had to go somewhere.

Photo by LS

The Commonwealth has seen many changes for women over the past year. Democrats swept state-wide elections last November, cementing an all blue down ballot ticket, including the election of Governor Ralph Northam who marched in Carytown today. Before 2017, only 17 women made up the 100 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates. But because of the progressive sweep last November, 28 women are now seated, the most in Virginia’s history. Among them is Danica Roem, the first transgender lawmaker in Virginia; Dawn Adams, the first open lesbian in the House; Elizabeth Guzman and Hala Ayala, the state’s first Latina delegates; and Kathy Tran, Virginia’s first female Asian-American delegate.

The Women’s March was an “awakening” for many women throughout Virginia, starting a conversation that continues today. “That’s what is happening in homes, in businesses, everywhere,” said Morris. “Women are finding their voice. They’re realizing they’re not alone and they feel justified in saying what is right.” 

This conversation helped to spark the #METOO movement which exposed a culture of sexual misconduct pervasive in the US. It was a product of women raising their voices, finding an avenue for expression and defiance.

At the march, Morris said that’s what she’d heard over and over again: “I thought I was the only one. I thought I was alone.”

While last year’s Richmond march brought in a crowd of around a thousand people, this event far surpassed the previous year. If  2017’s Women’s Marches were the start of a movement, then the 2018 Richmond march exists to energize a new generation of activism.

Photo by LS

“No minds are changed by this,” Morris said. “It’s the people marching who get enthusiastic, excited, who come in and become new activists.” Yet amongst the energy and enthusiasm of The Women’s March RVA was the community effort to organize such a meaningful event.

“There may be an assumption that a team of professional organizers are behind this event,” said Rachel Scott Everett, a local creative director and graphic designer. “In reality, it’s just a handful of regular Richmonders who are volunteering their time, skills and connections and looking to the community to spread the word and come together.”

No matter what happens in 2018, women in Richmond made their voices heard today. After a contentious year in national politics, Richmond women have returned home to start organizing locally to make a difference. How this will play out over the course of the next year remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, no one will ever take the women of the Commonwealth for granted.

Photos by Landon Shroder (LS) and Allison MacEwen (AM)

Richmond artist depicts the ‘everyday woman’ with East Coast mural tour

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A blinking neon light hanging on a dingy building near South of the Border in South Carolina flashing the words “Girls, Girls, Girls!,” would conjure up some negative images for most women, but ended up being inspiration for Emily Herr’s latest project.

“It was so weird to see that, so sad, out in the middle of nowhere at South of the Border,” the RVA muralist said. “But if you don’t really have anything to do with that world, or if you don’t really think about it, and take it out of context, it’s so happy…and I just loved that.”

Since June, Herr, of Herr Suite, has been painting Richmond women all around the city in small scale murals on houses, businesses, and public spaces, in an effort to change media depictions of women as one-dimensional objects and one beauty standard.

Photo by @girlsgirlsgirlstour

Tomorrow, Herr, along with Sarah Apple of Lucky Signs RVA, will roll out in their multi-colored mobile art studio truck to embark on their “Girls! Girls! Girls!” tour to paint murals of as many real, everyday women as they can up the East Coast all the way to Burlington, Vermont.

“We have a partner who is going to let us paint the back of his thrift stop and the building next door and do the same sort of thing as the Sheppard and Broad Street one; take a bunch of images of local women and interweave it with the whole Girls! Girls! Girls! thing,” Herr said. “The goal is on the way up, we’ll be propositioning people on the way up to try to as much as we can.”

DSCF6740.jpg

Herr, a 2013 VCUarts graduate, has been painting murals for over nine years and done work for local businesses such as Sugar & Twine, Welcoming Walls, Gather on Broad, and Halcyon Vintage.

In January, she began the mission of her “Girls Girls Girls” motif with a mural of neon-colored women of all races, ages and shapes on Sheppard and Broad streets with the words “Girls Girls Girls” painted boldly across the wall. The artist’s goal is to steer away from the stereotypical depiction of a woman in a magazine, ad, or even fine art in some cases.

“There’s images of women everywhere all though advertising, that’s talked about a fair amount, ‘advertising fucks up body image’, but also art,” she said. “Fine art is very ‘oh the beauty of the female form’ and that’s an excuse for a piece of art and you don’t see that with male bodies. “

“You also don’t see that with all these other kinds of bodies, it’s not ‘oh the beauty of the female form’ if she’s 50 pounds overweight…so that’s bullshit and the art world definitely hides behind that.”

For her Sheppard and Broad mural, Herr put a call out on Facebook for pictures of everyday women that people love and want to see reflected just the way they are.

“That’s my goal is to show real actual women and everything that entails, you’re not perfectly groomed, you’re not necessarily happy, not necessarily sexy, and then also, better representation of people of different body types, different races and skin colors and also, ages and disabilities is what I would love to move this towards,” she said.

Coming from an illustration background, Herr said it was important for her, as well as other female artists, to reflect diversity in their work.

“There’s a huge push from female illustrators to make better representation of everybody in their work, like, be more conscious about who you’re drawing and when, and don’t just use your default body types and lifestyles,” she said.

With this tour, Herr has put out another call for pictures of women pushing for more diversity.

“I want you to be honest, I want you to send me a picture of somebody you know and you think is a cool person,” Herr said.

Ahead of her tour, she’s painted murals at Studio Two Three, Bon Air non-profit Girls for a Change, Campire & Co., and Endeavor Studios’ “Wet Walls” show.

Photo by @girlsgirlsgirlstour

She’s hoping to make stops specifically in D.C., New York, and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and make “Girls! Girls! Girls! More of a long-term project.

“I’m hoping for this to be ongoing…like I guess I imagine the tour being perpetual,” she said. “I would hope to paint murals that make people appreciate the actual humans around them a little bit more, see them in a new way, that’s what I’m working towards.”

Girls! Girls! Girls! tour kicks off tomorrow, Sat. July 15 .To submit a picture of a girl, email [email protected] or tag or direct message @herrsuite or @girlsgirlsgirlstour. 

Opinion: The unstoppable force of women in Virginia politics

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I was home alone on November 7, the night of the 2016 election. Laying in bed, my mobile phone was the only source of light in my dark apartment. Like many people who watched state after state turn red, a deep sense of foreboding took over. I am a progressive woman from New York who had been transplanted to Virginia, and I remember thinking what will I do now? By the end of the night Virginia was little more than a small blue dot buried in an ocean of red.

The fact that this country would hand the presidency to a man who was not only offensive, but openly misogynistic and racist rocked me to the core. Like many of my friends and colleagues, I spent the late fall and early winter in a state of shock trying to come to terms with what the next four years might hold. But the more I looked at my young son and the America he was inheriting, the more I came to understand that sitting idly by was not an option.

The tipping point came when President Trump issued his executive order banning travel from certain majority-Muslim countries. Seeing thousands of people trapped in our nation’s airports, made my head spin uncontrollably. I was mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore, so I joined a group of women who were not going to be defined by this new president. It was time for us to take action, so I suggested that we start a non-profit. Our mission mission would be simple, to take tangible actions to affect change and hold the Trump administration accountable. Together, we would light a candle in the darkness.

If only it was that easy.

I had experience working for non-profits before, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to start one. What type would we become? How would we run ourselves?

What people don’t realize is that the process of setting up an organization is extensive, so the next few months became a whirlwind: researching, looking for competent lawyers and accountants, writing corporate bylaws and the rules of the organization, electing a leadership team and executive board, structuring the organization, building and running a website, creating and maintaining events and sending out a weekly newsletter.

Because of the reams of red-tape, we incorrectly filed the wrong paperwork to the state costing us additional time and money. But even amongst the challenges something amazing started happening, as we waited for our non-profit status to be approved our membership grew from the original 10 to over 1,000.

Today I am the Chief Executive Officer of Peninsula Voices for Change (PVC), a 501(c)(4) in Hampton Roads. Our organization is dedicated to advancing policies of inclusion, education, and respect for all communities, as well as pushing Virginia towards a more progressive future. A year ago we didn’t even have a platform to address our fears over the current state of politics and now we’re organized, motivated, and growing.

The sense of powerlessness that crippled me last winter is gone. It has been replaced with a growing conviction that the work my team and I are doing is making a difference.

Already, we have scheduled two town halls with gubernatorial candidates and candidates running for state delegate. We have created and launched a “Yes we Vote?” campaign, which not only encourages people to vote but also utilizes social media to bring the importance of voting to younger generations. We have held workshops on citizen activism, redistricting reform and religion and politics, along with other relevant socio-political issues. We have coordinated with Planned Parenthood in order to create volunteer opportunities for our members. We created approximately 70 graduation cards for transgendered student Gavin Grimm whose case went to the Supreme Court. We have organized a round table event for people of different political affiliations to discuss their belief, thoughts, and ideas in a safe space to see if we could find common ground.

However, old habits die hard. And as the CEO, I’ve had to quickly learn how to navigate the still male-dominated world of politics: This includes being told I am too aggressive when I believe I am being confident and self-assured. This includes having my kindness mistaken for flirtation more than once. This includes having to re-write more than one email in fear that the person on the receiving end would perceive me as “cold” or “harsh”. These are constants for women in politics in Virginia.

Yet the most difficult thing in running a non-profit has been to identify the balance between being determined and focused, while also not offending the patriarchal world of Virginia politics.

I now find myself in the middle of a battle zone where often, the fire comes from both directions. There have been challenging days, but the PVC mission statement continues to anchor me: ‘take action to affect progressive change’. As the President of the United States continues to make erratic and unsafe choices for our country, our organization continues to grow, thrive, and fight back.

People have a right to be part of something where they can enact change that matters. At PVC members are given an opportunity to join with a task force they are passionate about.

We have eight task forces each dealing with critical issues such as: gerrymandering, healthcare reform, women’s issues, environment and science, campaign and election education, refugee support, presidential accountability, and social justice. We connect them with their local congressional district, help them attend workshops and lectures, or join our leadership team. I believe that this nonprofit and all non-profits dedicated to progressive change are empowering a generation of people, especially women, that have laid dormant for too long.

We are here, we are invigorated, and we are making instrumental changes to the progressive future of Hampton Roads and Virginia. And we are just getting started.