Dress, the history of fashion, is a production of iHeartRadio.

With over 7 billion people in the world, we all have one thing in common.

Every day, we all get dressed.

Welcome to Dress, the history of fashion, a podcast that explores the who-what-wint-of-why-weat-where.

We are fashion historians and your host, Cassidy Zachary.

And April Callahan.

So Cass, in 1973, Dr. Willie Marrow, who we will discuss a bit further in this episode,

wrote in his book, 400 years without a comb, he said, quote,

hair, in other words, is a basic natural symbol of the things people are or want to become.

The social, cultural significance of hair styles should not be underestimated.

Yes, and Dr. Marrow, who has been called, quote,

the greatest barber the world has ever seen, in quote, was speaking specifically about

black hair, which is the subject of today's episode.

We are so pleased to have Dr. Tamika Ellington and Dr. Joseph Underwood join us today

to discuss their upcoming exhibition, Textures, the History and Art of Black Hair,

which will open in early September 2021 at the Kent State University Museum.

The exhibition, which is the largest exhibition to date on black hair, features 250 objects

and work from more than 50 artists. Wow.

Yeah. So at Kent State, Dr. Ellington serves as an associate professor of design,

and also the interim assistant dean for the College of Arts.

And her areas of study include African art and folklore, a focus that Dr. Underwood just

happens to share as an assistant professor of art history, and he studies artists from the African

...