Draped Down looks at both the implicit and explicit references to fashion in visual art. The title is adapted from a renaissance-era slang term meaning well-dressed; to be in the height of Harlem fashion. The term “draped down” was culled from a short story that the novelist and cultural anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston published in 1942.

The alliteration of “draped down” seems particularly apt—it suggests emphatic self-fashioning; as if every aspect of one’s attire should be distinct and considered. Its use as the title serves to contextualize Harlem as a primary source of inspiration and influence of Black style around the globe. With a focus on feminine beauty, the works presented are not traditional fashion portraiture, but rather, lend themselves to a broader interpretation by triggering the senses through color, tone, form, gesture and memory.