Do These Sequins Make My Butt Look Fat? Wardrobe, Image, and the Challenge of Identity in the Music of Black American Women

Abstract

When blues singer Ma Rainey stepped onto the stage in the early 1900s, resplendent in a diamond-studded tiara, a necklace made of gold pieces, and a ball gown in a rich shade of blue, audiences were no doubt bemused by the dichotomous images they saw. The appearance of the glamorously adorned, theatrical Rainey stood in stark contrast to the ordinary Rainey, whose plain face, unruly hair, and mouth filled with gold teeth were a realistic complement to her corpulent, squat body. Indeed, one of the best-known photographs of Ma Rainey is a study in paradox: soulful eyes that are at once wise, melancholy, and playful, full lips parted almost against their will to reveal crooked teeth etched in gold, and fleshy arms encased in a satin dress trimmed in beads and sequins. Nearly a century later, rapper Lil' Kim rocked (and shocked) hip-hop audiences with her call girl's wardrobe of animal print thongs, pasties, and multicolored boas. If viewers understood the publicity-driven nature of Kim's outré album covers and interview photos, they were no doubt confounded by her shape-shifter image as a blue-eyed, platinum-blond black woman. As photographer Annie Leibovitz noted, “Sociologically [Kim] is really fascinating because she is not only dressing up to be a woman, but she's dressing up to be a white woman.”1 In the early 2000s, Nicki Minaj and Janelle Monáe brought a fresh look to popular culture with their idiosyncratic wardrobes. Hip-hop artist Minaj, outfitted in a collection of rainbow-hued wigs and fanciful clothing, challenged audiences to consider her unique sex appeal on her own terms, while rhythm and blues performer Monáe, clad in her signature outfit of tuxedo and saddle shoes, gave audiences a new perspective on what it means to “dress like a woman.” Along the way, Motown's Supremes introduced recherché sophistication to popular culture in the 1960s, making elbow-length gloves and evening gowns de rigueur in their performance wardrobe. Their target audience, driven in part by the marketing savvy of Berry Gordy, Motown's founder, was white women in their teen and early adult years who would embrace the romance of the group's glamorous demeanor.