Vintage expo in Baltimore showcases Black fashion history

BALTIMORE -- When it comes to fashion, past trends always find a way to return.

The Vintage Black Expo set up shop at the Eubie Blake National Jazz and Cultural Center on Saturday to offer stylish unique pieces that give a person's wardrobe some extra pizzazz and showcase Black fashion history.

Twenty vendors from across Baltimore and Washington, D.C., brought out racks of clothing and tables of jewelry, including the vintage boutique, Elephant in My Room.

The boutique owner, Tisha Brown, said while growing up she learned how to go thrift store shopping with her mom. A common activity that left a permanent influence on her style.

But as vintage trends circle their way back, Brown has some styling tips and advice.

"What's happened now is that a lot of our favorite brands, our Fashion Novas, our Zaras they are recreating these pieces," Elephant in My Room Shop Owner Tisha Brown said. "They are even copying the prints. What I say is skip the middleman and go straight to the vintage."

Even pop culture-inspired streetwear carries an evolution of nostalgia.

That's why Patrick Vaughn opened his two-year-old business called Photogenisist to offer a range of styles that were prominent in the 90s to what's most popular nowadays.

"We are all children of the culture, but we all have our own individual sections and viewpoints," Vaughn said.

With the Eubie Blake Center named after a Harlem Renaissance pianist, the center is the perfect spot for Black history to meet fashion.

Ethnicitees makes lithograph T-shirts highlighting Black historical figures. It's a crucial effort to restore education loss in Sean Ramon Montague's eyes. Montague spent years teaching art in Baltimore schools. 

"One child didn't know anyone other than Dr. King and Malcolm X," Montague said. "It was disturbing to me that he made that statement and it showed that the school system's intentional efforts to not teach African American history. In the 33 years that our brand has been in operation, it's only gotten worse."

Zakiya Shivers said reconnecting with the past is what the expo is all about.

Shivers showcases her own vintage boutique in Baltimore called Tightfisted Fashion. She says local entrepreneurs are stepping up "to make the city better."

"To make the city more vibrant," she said. "Give it a little bit more character. And of course, put the charm in Charm City. That's what we do."