From left, Yoro Newson, Brandin Vaughn and Tai Davis strike a pose the 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis. Newson’s tailored long jacket, worn over a black bralette with wide-legged trousers, makes the perfect backdrop for her accessories — the straw hat with its black satin bow, the upcycled leopard-print purse and the jumble of jewelry, much of it designed by Newson. Brandin Vaughn wears an overcoat he designed with colorful embroidered custom sleeves over an upcycled jacket embellished with tassels on the left lapel. He’s wearing black leather pants for a contrast in texture and high-heeled, highly polished boots to extend the leg. A red velvet cravat, tied into a bow, adds a spot of color that’s reflected in the red bespoke brooch he assembled from two upcycled pieces of jewelry. For fun, he stuck a feather in the breast pocket of the jacket in a nod to the pocket handkerchiefs dandies favor. He carries a lion topped black walking stick for swagger. Tai Davis wears a bespoke suit of many colors he designed. Note how he’s tied his skinny yellow tie. Creative wraps with ties are one of his specialties. He’s plunked an Afro pick in light yellow into his breast pocket to add a bit of urbanism to the outfit and pinned a brooch to the pocket for sparkle.
When St. Louis fashion maven Yoro Newson got the call from her friend to head to New York to attend the ribbon cutting for the annual spring costume exhibit “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she packed up her bags and took off. And she knew just what she would wear.
“I went into a Goodwill and saw this hat way at the back of the store and headed straight there,” she says. The hat turned out to be a lampshade sitting atop a tall floor lamp. She took it to New York, the perfect topper to her tailored black coat over a black bralette, wide-legged black pants and some fine jewelry she’d designed.
She plopped it on her head and got bumped right into a special reception with her friends. “We ended up in a very fancy reception that people had paid for, and we got complimentary tickets to see the show, too,” she says.
She and her friends, exuding high style in their dramatic outfits, got pulled into the reception in a move door supervisors call “face control.” When they encounter people whose appearance will contribute to the atmosphere of an event, they let them in, which proves, once again, that clothes can indeed make the man or the woman, especially when they’re superfine, or highly tailored, Black fashions.
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The back of Newson’s outfit, including the jeweled suspenders she made.
The Costume Institute’s exhibit sets the theme each year for the Met Gala, the celebrity-rich fundraising ball held every May. This year’s theme highlighted Black dandyism, a cultural movement where Black people use fashion and personal style to express themselves and challenge societal limitations.
Dandyism originally emerged in the 18th-century in Britain when men started using fashion and impeccable grooming to stand out.
Black dandyism emerged in the 19th century when Black Americans drew on the styles of high-society white Americans to show they deserved to be free. The writings and photographs of abolitionist Frederick Douglass in the years before the Civil War bear this out. “True enough, we think a man is wanting in the upper story, who invites attention to his fine clothes, but a man is wanting … when he pays not attention to his dress. … The respectability and dignity of colored Americans must be upheld.”
But Black dandyism goes far beyond style. It’s a form of self-expression, of power and resistance. Historically, dandyism existed in the Black diaspora for centuries, but fully flowered during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s in a time when Blacks were creating a movement and flourishing in music, dance, literature, art and, of course, fashion. Wearing tailored suits and bold clothes, Blacks asserted their dignity and presence in a world that tried to deny both.
Here in St. Louis, designer and award-winning costumer Brandin Vaughn is an advocate of the movement. On the night of Met gala, he narrated the night’s fashions in an Instagram video. He has some knowledge of what works because he’s styled stars such as Vivica A. Fox, Beyoncé and the Isley Brothers.
Tai Davis, stylist and chef, dressed as the consummate dandy in a superfine tailored teal jacket for a private Met Gala viewing party in St. Louis.
“I showed up swathed in the unapologetic elegance of Black dandyism. Every stitch, every detail has been a labor of love and a testament to the power of personal style and the unbridled confidence of my inner dandy,” he says.
For all three of these St. Louis style icons, Black dandyism on the national stage at the world’s biggest fashion party and exhibit meant everything. The show was inspired by the book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity” by Monica L. Miller. She also took on the role of guest curator for the exhibit, making her mark as the first Black curator of a Costume Institute exhibition.
Designer Tai Davis
Davis, Newsom and Vaughn agree the time has come to recognize the contributions of Black Americans and the influence urban culture has had on fashion and personal style. And they are setting the bar high here in St. Louis with their contributions to the fashion and cultural scene.
“I was thinking it’s about time people realize that African-Americans, Black people, and people of color have often led trends in the fashion industry,” Vaughn says. “I learned about the trickle-up effect in fashion in college. When luxury brands go into urban communities to see what’s popular, they adapt the styles and silhouettes and make something of it, finding success off the backs of urban African-American culture. It’s been happening for centuries.”
Each of our three designers have met with success well beyond the boundaries of St. Louis and well before the Met spotlight. To be clear, Davis, Newson and Vaughn aren’t just dabbling in fashion, they each have more work to do than there are hours in the day. Still, they find time to be involved in community, to be there for those on their creative journeys. All three have won awards and recognition in our city and beyond.
Designer Tai Davis at the 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis
Company: Taste by Tai, tai-davis.com
Home: Grand Center | Age: 41
His work and mission: Tai Davis calls himself a modern-day dandy who does creative work as an artist, fashion designer, chef, cellist and curator of beautiful things. He describes his life as a performance, a protest and a prayer all rolled into one. Taste by Tai, his multi-sensory platform, features everything from restaurant consulting, food styling, bespoke dinners and wellness teas to art exhibitions, fashion design and styling, sound meditations, and performances. Community engagement remains a cornerstone of his artistic practice. Through his writing for Out in STL, he lifts up local creatives, crafts holistic recipes, and curates a playlist for each of his stories to inspire people from every point of view.
For Davis, black dandyism follows a tradition reimagined throughout decades. It speaks to him deeply. “It’s about craftsmanship. About showing up with intention. About turning your body into a canvas and your outfit into a message,” he says. He views it as a radical act of beauty. “Dandyism says I care about myself, about how I move through the world, and about the stories I carry.”
In his fashion practice, Davis augments his own designs with pulls from creative talents close to home, often from indie and emerging designers on the St. Louis scene. “Forty percent of what I wear is made by me,” he says, “but what I wear is never just about me — it’s about all the creatives in the community. Black Dandyism is about craftsmanship, about showing up. It’s not a costume, it’s armor and joy. It’s about detail, identity and reverence.”
Davis uses his talents in art, food, fashion and music to create events with other black creatives that highlight their talents and often raise funds for institutions and causes dear to his heart. In November 2024 he took first place and picked up a $10,000 award after he cooked an amazing meal in 30 minutes on the Food Network show “Chopped.”
Designer Yoro Newson
Yolanda ‘Yoro’ Newson
Company: Yoro Styles, yorostyles.com
Family: Newson is married and has four children
Her work and mission: Newson’s talents cover the waterfront. She’s a movie costumer, jewelry designer, stylist and fashion-show producer. She’s a savvy community organizer who built a coalition of Black artists, musicians, fashion folks, and creatives into a powerhouse business that showcases Black virtuosity.
For Newson, her success in fashion and in life began close to home, with the encouragement of her parents, Dorothy and Willie Dixon. She uses the common-sense lessons and entrepreneurship skills she learned from them. When she dyed her hair purple with Kool Aid and went full punk as a young preteen, her mother told her how pretty she looked even though the purple showed in her dark hair under the brightest lights.
Her father taught her the value of patience and the importance of never spending every penny. “I asked him once for $20 to go thrift shopping. He told me if I waited until the next day, he’d give me $100. I waited, and the next day he told me not to spend it all, and I didn’t,” she says.
Newson formed Black Creatives in the Lou to showcase the work of fashion designers, artists and musicians as she did at the Fourth Annual Black History Month Fashion Showcase at Neiman Marcus in Plaza Frontenac. She was honored June 21 at the Black Girls Golden Ticket Awards Ceremony. At the conclusion of the annual House of Soul Juneteenth fashion show she coordinated this year, she received the Zora Neale Hurston Award for her work in the arts community. On Oct. 10, she’ll add another honor to the growing list: She’ll see her name in the credits for costumes in the new movie, “Soul on Fire,” based on the book by John O’Leary.
Designer Brandin Vaughn
Brandin Vaughn
Company: Brandin Vaughn Collection, brandinvaughn.com
Home: University City | Age: 42
His work and mission: Although Vaughn’s creative work in fashion, costume design and styling extends far beyond the city of St. Louis, he maintains close ties to the city of his birth. He views his business as a platform for empowerment and social impact. He collaborates with organizations and nonprofits to improve the St. Louis community, using his talent and skills to advance educational mentorships, youth employment initiatives and programs that help those in need.
Designer Brandin Vaughn leans into Black dandyism. “Every stitch, every detail has been a labor of love and a testament to the power of personal style and the unbridled confidence of my inner dandy,” he says.
In addition to the bespoke clothes Vaughn creates in his studio, he also uses repurposed finds to create upscale looks. “You don’t have to have a million bucks to look good. If you have style, you can go to the thrift store, take a basic suit, accessorize, tailor it and then it’s all about that first impression, right?”
He proved it at the Black Entertainment Television awards last month when he tailored a suit for Shorty da King, a St. Louis musician, in just a few days, repurposing a jacket into a short crop, tailored to fit. He added bling from his personal stash to the lapels and shoulders of the jacket and pleated trousers. Shorty, going full dandy from braids to boots, broke the internet on the red carpet.
In addition to mentoring young designers, Vaughn’s work — from styling and designing for celebrities to fitting Broadway stars in Muny’s costume shop — adds a little stardust to his story that says anything is possible with hard work.
