Arthur Lee McGee (March 25, 1933 – July 1, 2019) was an American

fashion design Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has varied over time and place. "A fashion design ...

er. In 1957 he became the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

designer to run a design studio on Seventh Avenue in the Garment District in New York City.

Early life and education

Arthur Lee McGee was born on March 25, 1933, in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. His mother Rose was a

dressmaker A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Notable dr ...

, who created her own original designs and taught her son about fashion in his early childhood. As his mother liked hats, a young McGee determined to learn hat making so he could gift her one. He attended the

Traphagen School of Fashion Traphagen School of Fashion was an art and design school in operation from 1923 to 1991, and was located at 1680 Broadway in New York City. The school was founded and directed by Ethel Traphagen Leigh (1883–1963) with a focus on the foundation ...

in New York City after winning a scholarship contest, graduating in 1951 in Costume Design. He continued his studies in

millinery Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners made and sold a range of accessories for clothing and hairstyles. ...

and apparel design at

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college under the State University of New York, in New York City. It focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It was founded in ...

(FIT). During this time he studied with the pioneering fashion designer Charles James. He dropped out of FIT in 1956 after being told there were no jobs for Black designers, with the

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

suggesting he look for work as a presser.

Career

He spoke openly about poor treatment in design offices early on, where peers failed to recognize McGee as a fashion designer, even when he was dressed in designer clothing, due to his race. In his first jobs he was allowed to create designs and construct clothing, but disallowed from using his own name. Upon opening a small space in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

and selling clothing to a few celebrities one weekend, McGee earned work from

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

shows in need of costumes. By 1957, at the age of 24, he was head of design at the women's fashion label Bobby Brooks, Inc. He was the first African American to hold this position at an established Seventh Avenue apparel company. McGee's clothing designs drew inspiration from African and Asian fashion traditions, often featuring looser silhouettes and African textiles. He was most active from the 1960s through the 1980s. In 1960s he opened his own design store on St. Mark’s Place in New York City. During the 1960s and 1970s he worked for College Town of Boston, a collegiate themed women's apparel company. His designs were sold at major department stores including

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...

Bloomingdale’s Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, wh ...

Henri Bendel Henri Bendel, Inc. (pronounced BEN-del), established in 1895, was a women's department store based in New York City which in its later history sold women's handbags, jewelry, luxury fashion accessories, home fragrances, chocolate and gifts. Its ...

, and

Bergdorf Goodman Bergdorf Goodman Inc. is an American luxury department store based in New York City, founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf. , it operates a women's store and a men's store across the street from each other on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. ...

, in many cases marking the first time these stores carried work by an African American designer. Amongst his celebrity clients were stars such as

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the C ...

, Sybil Burton,

Cicely Tyson Cecily Louise "Cicely" Tyson (; December 19, 1924January 28, 2021) was an American actress. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, she is known for her portrayals of complex and strong-willed African American women. She received sev ...

, and

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

. He designed musician

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians. Gordon's height was , so he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" an ...

's custom suit for the 1987

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

, when he was received an Oscar nomination for his role in the film Round Midnight.

Death and legacy

McGee died July 1, 2019, at the age of 86, in a nursing home in New York City after a long battle with illness. McGee had been a mentor to fashion designer,

Willi Smith Willi Donnell Smith (February 29, 1948 – April 17, 1987) was an American fashion designer. At the time of his death, Smith was regarded as one of the most successful African-American designers in the fashion industry. His company, WilliWe ...

. And McGee influenced many younger designers of the 1970s including, Stephen Burrows, Scott Barrie, B. Michael,

Jeffrey Banks Jeffrey Banks (born November 3, 1955) is an American fashion designer and author, who has been described as a major black fashion maker. Early life Banks worked as a design assistant to Ralph Lauren (1971 to 1973) and Calvin Klein (1973 to 197 ...

, and James Daugherty. His work is included in various public museum collections including the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), colloquially known as the Blacksonian, is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in 2003 an ...

, among others. McGee's work was featured on the television show

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

(Season 24 Episode 30).

References

External links

* Video
The Fashion of Arthur McGee
(2009) from the

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGee, Arthur 1933 births 2019 deaths American fashion designers African-American fashion designers Designers from Detroit Traphagen School of Fashion alumni Fashion Institute of Technology alumni Fashion designers from New York City 1980s fashion 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people