Fashion has been a popular trend for decades. Many people tend to dress how they feel or dress to impress. But fashion is suppose to help define a person by their personality and characteristics.

What a person dresses like, says a whole lot from the other person looking in. Trends that are sold in stores presently are redefining clothing from years ago. Take a look into the lives of Willi Smith and Stephen Burrows as their main goal was to look at fashion and give it a new style.

Willi Smith was originally born Willi Donnell Smith in Philadelphia, Pa. He was born on February 29, 1948. After graduation from high school, he went to study Fashion Illustration at Philadelphia Museum College of Art, from 1962 to 1965. Then went on to study Fashion Design, at Parsons School of Design in N.Y from 1965 to 1967.

He started in the fashion industry because his first love was to make clothing for women, but had an influence on men’s clothing too. The name of his brand was called WilliWear, that was created for sportswear and was founded in 1976. In July of 1983 he created designer clothing for Edwin Schlossberg’s wedding that included linen blazers and outfits that were both traditional and slightly spoofy and outrageous enough to notice and enjoy. Smith’s clothing were to be made for everyone, even those who could only afford minimum wage.

Upon 1987, Smith was named as the most successful black designer in fashion history, vivid sense of style democracy and electric mix. His line of clothing catered to street couture.

Willi Smith died in April 1987, but his clothing line has been re-launched and taken over by Michael Shulman. Shulman has produced and continued with WilliWear that are sold in T.J. Maxx stores. The significance of being a black fashion designer is that they represent the African American culture by trends and designs from all across the world. Black fashion designers do face challenges of other race designers. The challenges comes in designing clothes to fit people of all shapes and sizes.

Stephen Burrows was born on September 15, 1943 in Newark, N.J. At a young age, Burrows started sewing and making clothes from the help of his grandmother. He graduated in 1960 from Newark Arts High School, in Newark, N.J. He then attended college at Philadelphia Museum School of Art from 1961 to 1962. In 1966, he later graduated from Fashion Institute of Technology. In 1968 he launched a ready-to-wear collection of the upscale department store Bonwit Teller. In 1969, he opened his own boutique called Stephen Burrows World. His boutique gave him the opportunity to sale his products to celebrities such as Diana Ross, Cher and Barbara Streisand. In 1973 he became the first African American designer to gain international fame.

Stephen Burrows is still alive and well today. He currently has a clothing line in Target retail stores and a showroom in New York’s designer garment studio room. Burrows significance of African American designers in the fashion industry is based by bold colors, structure and fabric weight. The challenges he faces is that he must always bring his best being from Harlem.

Fashion will always have a way to set the final tone to mix and blend beautiful garments for everyday wear.