内容摘要：The ads, Miller notes, would often describe someone who was “particularly fond of dress” — or note that the person had taken large wardrobes. The reason was twofold: The fancy clothes made it possible for an enslaved person to cloak their identity. But also, when they finally made it to freedom, they could sell the clothing to help fund their new lives, Miller says.

The ads, Miller notes, would often describe someone who was “particularly fond of dress” — or note that the person had taken large wardrobes. The reason was twofold: The fancy clothes made it possible for an enslaved person to cloak their identity. But also, when they finally made it to freedom, they could sell the clothing to help fund their new lives, Miller says.

As each year during cocktail hour, they and other guests will be free to put their drinks aside and tour the exhibit before the lavish dinner begins. This year, exquisitely tailored celebrities will examine other examples of exquisite tailoring — as well as historical artifacts like a horse jockey uniform worn between 1830 and 1840.In an installation room late last month, a museum staffer worked painstakingly on restoring those jockey trousers, a pin cushion at the ready. Near her, two items were already hanging on mannequins. One was a classic Jeffrey Banks suit from 1987, a double-breasted jacket and trousers paired with a dapper plaid wool coat, the ensemble finished off with a light pink tie.

“See how the coat and suit play off each other,” noted Miller.Next to it was a very different kind of suit — a denim jacket and trousers embellished throughout with beads — by a far less widely known designer: Jacques Agbobly, whose Brooklyn-based label aims to promote Black, queer and immigrant narratives as well as his own Togolese heritage.The show makes a point, Miller said, of highlighting designers who are well known and others who are not, including some from the past who are anonymous. It will veer across not only history but also class, showing garments worn by people in all economic categories.

Because there are not many existing garments worn or created by Black Americans before the latter part of the 19th century, Miller said, the early part of the show fills out the story with objects like paintings, prints, some decorative arts, film and photography.Among the novelty items: The “respectability” section includes civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois’ receipts for laundry and tailoring. “He’d go to Paris and London, he would visit tailors and have suits made there,” she said.

And the “jook” section includes a film clip of the tap-dancing Nicholas Brothers — who in 1943’s “Stormy Weather” produced one of the most astounding dance numbers ever to appear on film.

“We wanted to show people moving in the clothes,” Miller explained. “A fashion exhibit is frustrating because you don’t see people in the clothes.”Some, however, disagree with Villa 31’s transformation, and say it should have stayed untouched, a history lesson for the tourists and generations born long after Hoxha’s regime collapsed.

Xhevdet Lani, a taxi driver and an older resident of Tirana, said the villa is “historic evidence of what the dictatorship once was.”Stanislava Pinchuk from Ukraine, works on a project in Villa 31 where the late communist dictator Enver Hoxha, once a symbol of totalitarian rule used to live, in Tirana, Albania, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Vlasov Sulaj)

Stanislava Pinchuk from Ukraine, works on a project in Villa 31 where the late communist dictator Enver Hoxha, once a symbol of totalitarian rule used to live, in Tirana, Albania, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Vlasov Sulaj)“It would have been better if it had remained for generations so that our children and grandchildren could learn from it,” he said.