Conversations with Baldwin: Baldwin and Fashion
A panel discussion about James Baldwin’s iconic image, the connection between fashion and literature, and the stories behind how and why we fashion identities.
James Baldwin was not only stylish and innovative in his writing, but also in his dress sense. He moved in literary, political, fashion and intellectual circles, often as the only Black man in the room. His sense of style also permeated his writing, inspired by his love of Harlem and its thriving arts scene.
Performer and theatre maker Travis Alabanza, theatre, film and TV actress Sarah Niles, and fashion designer Nicholas Daley join Words of Colour's executive director Joy Francis to discuss James Baldwin’s celebrated image, his timeless sartorial style, the intersection of fashion and literature, and the reality of fashioning identities to, in Baldwin’s words, ‘belong to yourself’.
Travis Alabanza is a writer, performer and theatre maker from Bristol. Their debut show Burgerz won the Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was voted one of The Guardian Readers Top Shows of The Year. Alabanza's debut book None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary was published in 2022 and won the Jhalak Literary Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and was listed in Time Magazine's 100 books of 2023.
Community, craftsmanship and culture lie at the heart of Nicholas Daley’s work. The London-based designer launched his eponymous brand in 2015, intertwining personal narrative with wider Black British and diasporic themes of identity, heritage and memory. Daley celebrated his multicultural Jamaican-Scottish roots in the Return to Slygo exhibition held at both the V&A Dundee and London’s NOW Gallery, and his work featured in the V&A Fashioning Masculinities exhibition.
Sarah Niles is a two-time Emmy nominee for her role as Dr Sharon Fieldstone in Ted Lasso, and won a SAG Award along with her fellow cast members for ‘Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series'. She has appeared in screen projects Netflix's The Sandman and I May Destroy You for HBO. On stage, Sarah has performed in numerous theatre productions at The National Theatre, The Royal Court, The Old Vic and more.
Conversations with Baldwin celebrates the 100th birthday of one of the 20th century’s most iconic writers, James Baldwin (1924 – 1987).
Presented in collaboration with the immersive change agency Words of Colour
Need to know
For ages 16+
This event is Speech-to-Text transcribed (STT).
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Queen Elizabeth Hall
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Please bear with us while we update our access map to reflect the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces. The step-free routes remain the same.
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