The flights have been booked, the brunches planned, and a palpable glee is wafting through the air as 50-year-alum and recent graduates alike voyage back home to their collegiate stomping grounds, ready to commemorate and reflect on one of the most transformative periods of their lives
HBCU homecomings are a magical ritual steeped in much more than just standard school pride or a wistful longing for the felicity of our heyday. It’s a return to center, as for many, attending an HBCU was and will be the only time they get to be in the majority and enjoy the unspoken understanding and community that comes with that.
HBCUs are special. Not just for their world-class curriculums or over-capacity dartys, but for the role they play in readying graduates to navigate the world, self-assured in their Blackness in a society that encourages us to be everything but.
So, of course, when the Florida A&M Rattlers come to nest, the Howard Bison trek back to The Mecca, and Grambling Tiger’s snares usher in best-in-class beats, outsiders take notice.
From Beyonce’s 2018 homecoming-inspired Coachella performance to Paris Fashion Week, HBCU-tinged adulation is flooding the zeitgeist.
From Air Jordan to the speedways of NASCAR and everywhere in between, here are some of the best HBCU beauty and fashion collaborations happening now.
Jordan Brand and Howard University
Jordan, the official sponsor for Howard University’s athletic department, has blessed sneak geeks everywhere with a host of Howard-flavored sneaker collabs, including the Air Jordan 1 Low OG “Howard University” that’s a dunk gone totally HBCU. Howard University alumna Kahlana Barfield Brown also teased the release of her own Nike Yardrunners Air Force 1 during Howard’s 100th Homecoming celebration.
Wales Bonner and Howard University
Wales Bonner, one of the greatest designers of our time, knows the importance of legacy and time-honored tradition when it comes to design. So when she tapped into Howard University’s archive as inspiration for her Autumn/Winter 2024 collection, “Dream Study” it was a moment of pure sartorial alignment displayed in Bonner’s ultra-wearable yet avant-garde design style.
Of the collection, Bonner told Vogue that she admired Howard’s “amazing literary heritage,” particularly the esteemed legacy of alumni like Zora Neale Hurston, as well as the cultural phenomenon that is Howard’s homecoming, which relies heavily on the connectivity of Black music.
“So, it was kind of both exploring the history of the place, but also this kind of musical intersection that’s always been something important to me,” Bonner told Vogue.
NASCAR and LegacyHistoryPride
In October, NASCAR announced it would be teaming up with HBCU apparel powerhouse LegacyHistoryPride. NASCAR-inspired fashion has been on the rise with perforated race jackets and super-patched gear, so this collaboration makes sense. It’s worth noting that NASCAR has a staunch history of racism, including an incident where a noose was found in Bubba Wallace’s garage. This was after Wallace, the only Black driver in NASCAR’s top circuit, successfully called for the ban of the Confederate flags at NASCAR events.
This collaboration is one of many steps in NASCAR’s journey toward championing a more inclusive racing future.
The Lip Bar and HBCU Culture Shop
Many of us first met Lip Bar founder Melissa Butler when she presented her hero lip products on Shark Tank, where she was rejected and referred to as a “colorful cockroach.” Nearly ten years later, The Lip Bar is available in over 2,000 stores and has been worn by the likes of Taraji P. Henson and Lori Harvey. But before Butler changed the world with her Black-girl-focused lip products, she attended Florida A&M University, in the heart of Tallahassee, Florida.
This year, for homecoming, she paid homage to her rattler roots, collaborating with the HBCU Culture Shop to launch a limited-edition HBCU-inspired lip gloss collection. The shades for the lip kits are all inspired by HBCU culture and include a bold blue inspired by Hampton University, a red “Rattlers” shade and a Jaguar brown inspired by Southern University.
Polo Ralph Lauren and SpelHouse
Polo Ralph Lauren is one of the biggest game players when it comes to embodying historic motifs of the “all-American” collegiate persona, expertly whittling it into one of the sharpest vestiary presences in the fashion space. Historically Black colleges and universities were largely excluded from this narrative. That is until 2022, when Polo Ralph Lauren released an exclusive capsule collection for Spelman and Morehouse. This hallmark moment was of prominence because, despite its college-prep-style ethos, this was the first time Polo Ralph Lauren actually collaborated with a college. The collection was a homage to the classic style of dress worn at HBCUs for years, paying homage to the enduring style worn by Spellmanites and the men of Morehouse.
