BHS Day 23: L'Tanya Griffin

For the last Art & Fashion spotlight of the month, I wanted to showcase someone that really never got their due back in the day. Not only was this person not given their due credit during their own lifetime, information was always a bit scarce on them and as a result it's quite possible that younger generations will never know about this person. I wanted to try and find as much info about her as I could, so let's get to the Spotlight!

Source

Name: L'Tanya Griffin, 1919-?

Profession: Costume and fashion designer

Why is the Spotlight on her today? For her contributions to the fashion industry

Accomplishments:
--Was the first African-American designer to sign a major contract with a film studio for her designs
--Was the first African-American designer to be known by a single name
--Had a number of celebrities wear her designs throughout her career
--Was one of the most well-known designers of her time
--Was the recipient of the first African-American fashion credit given in a publication
--Operated from her own Hollywood dress shop


Further reading links:
Michael Henry Adams | BowCatz | HubPages

L'Tanya Griffin doesn't even have a Wikipedia page, that's how little information there is on her! So basically, when any blogger or researcher finds anything it's usually the same few tidbits of information sourced from another site, who likely had to do the same thing. L'Tanya is another reason why I went ahead with BHS this month but the same tidbits of information were circulating around the Internet so I didn't learn anything new there. I even checked in the books I used as reference/research points for this month's posts and she's nowhere in there either. I would love to find more information on her, maybe more photos of her designs, but the theme of giving other designers credit for Black designs was too common back then, so it's probably a lost cause at this point. But at least her name and the doors she opened are being recirculated, and that's partially the point. If you have anything new on L'Tanya Griffin, please feel free to share it and I'll see you tomorrow!