In 1910, Dr. James E. Shepard and his wife Mrs. Annie Day Shepard established The National Religious Training School and Chautauqua, in Durham, North Carolina, which was the first state-supported liberal arts college for Black people.

Now known as North Carolina Central University (“NCCU”) and a historical Black university, its culture is filled with unique fashion, beauty aesthetics, and pure joy, which combats social issues that students face outside its walls.

Recently, NCCU’s Textile and Apparel Department was awarded a $50,000 scholarship from Closing the Gap initiative. The funds provided by Gap Inc. and Harlem’s Fashion Row will strengthen and improve the fashion program, which initially started as a home economics class over a decade ago. Since 2012, the program’s curriculum has allowed students to design fashion collections for annual Fashion Shows produced by Professor Wadeeah Y. Beyah and Fashion Inc., a student-led organization for the program. The program is gaining the foundation it needs to produce more successful and sustainable talent with the upcoming merger with the Art & Design Department of NCCU.

Dr. Shepard once stated, “The eagle is not a common, ordinary barnyard fowl.” Since then, NCCU’s extraordinary Eagles have soared into new heights of eminence and exuded nothing less than excellence. NCCU is also the home of the late André Leon Talley, a notable fashion icon, and other fashion leaders such as Wouri Vice and Posh McKoy, who are soaring in their respective lanes, and next generations of NCCU alumni like model and stylist Lyric Harris and FOR HINSON Creative Director Columbus S. Hinson IV.

What drives you to curate work that resonates with your social identities?

Wouri Vice

“I am not thinking about my social identities when I create work. I am always going to be a Black man, so Black culture is a part of who I am.  I show up knowing who I am in all of my work. I am not the reminder guy, I am not going to remind you that I am Black, you see it. I am going to tell the story as it should be told, either you get it or you do not get it.”

Posh McKoy

“I am from Fuqua Arena, NC. I did not understand myself as a child because fashion did not exist in North Carolina as much as the Baptist churches. Now, I can look back and see how we can help people who do not know about themselves but also who do not know about fashion spaces. So, I believe it is just our duty to show up as ourselves for the youth who are behind us.”

How will your experience at NCCU forever impact your success in the fashion industry?

Wouri Vice

“There is a level of community and family at North Carolina Central University that is unmatched. I still have friends who were either roommates or classmates and people from the surrounding community who saw me participating in Bon Vivant Fashion Society. Those people who supported me then still support me to this day because they knew what my dreams were early on.”

Posh McKoy

“I asked myself how I have been able to break into certain areas without fashion training at all. I instantly thought of my upper hand in marketing, which I studied at NCCU. I always shout out to Ryan Gale, a fellow NCCU alumni, she welcomed me to intern for her. She got me to the doorknob and I twisted it to open the door myself. So, NCCU’s teachings have influenced my work in fashion, whether it is understanding how to market or how to intertwine fashion and pop culture.”

What excites you about sharing a commonality with NCCU alumni who are making an impact in fashion as well?

Wouri Vice

“When people ask where I attended school, my response is always ‘I went to North Carolina Central University, the home of the Eagles, where excellence is no accident.’ Because it is the truth. I am never really surprised by meeting other Eagles who are great, it is really who we are.

When it comes to André Leon Talley and NCCU, he was fabulous to some and unknown to others. And we all know what the unknown looks like in North Carolina, when people do not know they shun it, you make fun of it, and it turns into something else.

I think he had to go forth and really break ground before it could be a respective thing because he was the first and only one. What André would have to bring to the table now is the norm. If he were alive now and a recent successful alumnus, we would expect him to come back because of his resources or an understanding of this scenario.”

Posh McKoy

“I cannot wait to show up to an event and see all of us there. Everyone is making their own waves or creating their own lanes in fashion. I can not wait to be on a red carpet with Wouri Vice or bump into Model Yahrock Bates at a Givenchy fashion show. It is always great everywhere I go when I run into people from NCCU, it is a special unspoken language.