More Black costume designers, more normalizing Black women's bodies
One of the more surprising stories during 'ReLiving Single Podcast' was about Khadijah James and Grant Hill
.jpg){kind=link}
Dana “Queen Latifah” Owens is one of those women who pretty much looks good in anything. Whether she’s wearing a jersey and a baseball cap or a red evening gown with a thigh-high slit, she can nail it. Same goes for her hair, which has been so perfect in some photographs you’d swear it was artificial intelligence.
So, I was taken aback while listening to “Living Single” costume designer Ceci — who has created apparel for cast members of “A Different World,” “Living Single,” “Sister Sister,” “Mixed-Ish” and “A Black Lady Sketch Show” — mention a particular scene with Queen Latifah’s character Khadijah James and NBA legend Grant Hill. (Skip to the 44-minute mark.)
Considering I’ve seen every episode of “Living Single” so many times to the point where I can recite some of the lines, I definitely recalled Grant Hill’s off-key singing in Season 5, Episode 2 “High Anxiety." I vaguely remembered the red dress she was wearing. I also could recollect that they were having this cute moment in a gymnasium. But the one thing I definitely did not pay attention to was how her arms looked in the Donna Karan dress.
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I prioritize featuring intriguing products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and Black-owned businesses. All five of my Substack publications include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a VERIFIED Black-owned business.
“There was this whole conversation, ‘Well, can she have a shawl?’” Ceci told “Re-Living Single” hosts Kim Coles and Erika Alexander. “‘But what about her arms? What about her breasts?’ There was always a thing with trying to minimize her.”
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage for every purchase with my referral link.
I squinted at the television screen, looking for anything at all wrong with the Queen during the Grant Hill episode. What did I come up with? Absolutely nothing. The only flaw I took from that episode was the television (and film) industry needs far more African-American and/or Panamanian-American designers like Ceci and far less of the Peanut Gallery who don’t look nearly as good as Queen Latifah did in that Donna Karan red dress. But even coming up with this point, I was struggling to think of more examples.
Besides Ruth E. Carter, the two-time Academy Award-winning American film costume designer who won a Costume Design award for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” I’m coming up blank on diversity in this career field.