"I designed and sewed this dress while living in a historically Black neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia. Countless old and beautiful houses sat empty, condemned, and foreclosed. I watched them fall into disrepair while so many people were unhoused or could barely afford rent. I was renting a three bedroom 1910s home with four other roommates, as it was all we could afford. Our AC unit broke in the middle of summer, our furnace in the middle of winter. The tile under the sink buckled up and split open to the basement, spreading a layer of white, fuzzy mold across the kitchen floor. Great swaths of black mold developed on the bathroom ceiling. We pleaded with the landlady to fix these issues because of our obvious discomfort, but it also hurt me to see the gorgeous house falling apart. And I was still much more fortunate than most. Being white, I was complicit in the rampant gentrification of Downtown Atlanta. Two things can be true at the same time, and I want viewers to consider the intersections of privilege that benefit them as well as the ways they might unlearn classist and racist beliefs."

Gentrification Dress
Linen, velvet, acrylic, lace
$12,000.00
​Size 6/8