AGO exhibition traces Black style from resistance to runway
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Julie Crooks and Jason Cyrus curated “Sunday Best: The Power And The Glory of Black Style” at the Art Gallery of Ontario, displaying garments and art from the 1880s to the present day.
The exhibition examines how Black people across the African diaspora developed unique styles, beginning with clothes made from limited materials during the transatlantic slave trade. This practice of “Sunday best” dressing for church and special occasions became a means of resistance and community building.
The curators organized the exhibition into five sections. Origins, Church, Migration, Liberation, and Call and Response, and collaborated with architect Jayden Ali to create a spatial layout that emphasizes light and congregation. Pieces include a recreation of Anna Murray Douglass’s wedding dress and a ball gown by Christopher John Rogers, who reclaims antebellum silhouettes with vibrant fabrics. The AGO also partnered with Canadian fashion label Greta Constantine to host a live fashion show led by Kirk Pickersgill.
Pickersgill designed an all-white collection to represent purity and peace, and the show will feature a live soundtrack from Toronto’s Echo Collective, aiming to celebrate Black arts and culture. The exhibition runs until February 28, 2027.
