Wye Oak Lecture Series—Dandies on Display: Livery, Luxury, and the Enslaved Body

Join fashion historian and curator Jonathan Michael Square, PhD, for a lecture exploring Black dandyism as a powerful expression of agency, resistance, and refinement. Drawing on his contribution to Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, the Met Gala 2025 theme and the Costume Institute’s spring 2025 exhibition, Dr. Square will examine the significance of livery through the lens of the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s own purple livery suit, which was featured in the landmark exhibition. This talk will trace how clothing became a site of both constraint and creativity for enslaved and formerly enslaved people, revealing how sartorial choices, or the lack thereof, functioned as a signifier of deference and defiance.

Doors open at 10:30 am. The lecture begins at 11:00 am. Light reception to follow.