I didn’t choose denim on denim, also known as the Canadian tuxedo for my Fig Magazine fall cover just because it looks good. I chose it because it carries weight. History. Intention. A story that lives in every thread.
Denim and indigo blue “the dye” that gave jeans their signature color are directly tied to slavery. History tells us that enslaved people were often forced to wear rough denim, dyed with indigo, while “others” walked in white cotton, silk, and finer fabrics. Clothing was more than fashion; it was a marker, a separation, a way to distinguish who was “free” and who was not. A form of control, In the antebellum South, a coarse, indigo dyed cloth, sometimes an early form of denim, was issued to enslaved people for their clothing. Plantation owner and merchants publicly referred to this fabric as “Negro cloth”
So when I put on a sleeveless, cropped Levi’s button down, it wasn’t just an outfit, it was a statement. That denim was a nod to my ancestors. A tribute. A reclamation. The Levi’s logo itself, showing two horses pulling a pair of jeans apart “what is once said to have been a slave” or the “Mandela effect”, became symbolic to me while other expose this truth online.
It reminded me of the lives, families, and identities that were also pulled apart during those times. Wearing it was my way of saying: You couldn’t tear us apart completely. I am still here. And not only here, I’m thriving. To see my brown skin front and center, printed twenty thousand times across a city, on tables, in spaces where people who look like me were once unwelcome… means more than any headline could explain. That cover isn’t just fashion. It’s a permanent reminder that we exist, we belong, and we will not be erased.
This is more than a small jab at history, it’s a declaration about the future. Every artistic choice I make is intentional, because I’m deeply aware of legacy. What I create, what I wear, what I stand for… these things matter while my feet are still above the soil.
And maybe not everyone will understand the statement today. Maybe it will go over some heads. But that’s fine. Because I know that even if the meaning isn’t caught now, it will be studied tomorrow. Just like denim, my message is durable. It lasts.
That cover is also a reminder to my younger self, that future me will always be present enough, brave enough, and bold enough to make statements. Statements that transcend the moment. Statements that live beyond me. So yes, I wore the Canadian tuxedo. But I wore it with intention. I wore it for those before me, for myself, for my children, and for those who will come after.
If we allow our history to be erased what will our children think of us, what will the future think of us. Every page of my life is a story. And with each flip, you’ll see… nothing I do is accidental. Everything is stitched with purpose.
⁃ B
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