In 2014, MODA presented Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair in commemoration of the event that, for half a century, brought the most exclusive fashions to Black audiences nationwide. Visitors were invited to learn about the fair’s founder, Eunice Johnson, and explore the ways in which fashion has promoted social change through a variety of pieces from Givenchy, Christian Dior, Yves Saint-Laurent, Oscar de la Renta, Emanuel Ungaro, Patrick Kelly, Pierre Cardin, and more.

A spectacle of glamour and performance, the Ebony Fashion Fair grew from the pages of Ebony, the best-selling magazine of Chicago’s Johnson Publishing Company. Like the publication, the traveling fashion show provided eager audiences with transformative images of beautiful, successful African Americans.

In the middle decades of the twentieth century, African Americans challenged centuries of racial segregation and discrimination. Despite civil rights victories, images of Black achievement remained rare. Through its innovate work in Chicago, a city in which Black businesses and culture thrived, the Johnson Publishing Company presented a powerful new vision of what was possible for Black Americans.