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Amanda Wicker held court in Cleveland for decades as a fashion designer, business owner, teacher, and community leader. Although it has been more than 30 years since his death, the Western Reserve Historical Society is teaching a new generation of his legacy with its latest exhibition, Amanda Wicker: Black Fashion Design in Cleveland.
Wicker moved to Cleveland from Georgia nearly a century ago with her husband, McDuffy Wicker, as part of the Great Migration. After teaching at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and sewing with an intern in Washington, D.C., Wicker started his own business coaching others in sewing from his home in Cleveland in 1925. Despite the onset of the Great Depression and the death of her husband around the same time, Wicker remained in business, eventually moving his school from home and into nearby buildings (no longer standing today) on East 89th Street and Cedar Avenue in the Fairfax neighborhood.
The Clark School of Dress Making and Fashion Design is in this building (no longer standing) at E. 89th Street and Cedar Avenue in Cleveland. [Western Reserve Historical Society]
From those humble beginnings, we found a great school that continues to hire others and create opportunity, says Regennia N. Williams, distinguished scholar of African-American history for the Western Reserve Historical Society.
Wicker designed clothes throughout his life, from wedding dresses to suits and evening wear. More than a dozen of these creations and a collection of photographs were donated by his nephew to the Western Reserve Historical Society.
Wicker named his school Clarke School of Dress Making and Fashion Design after Addie Clarke, his instructor in Washington, DC. He ran the school for decades before selling it and retiring in the late 1970s.
Amanda Wicker has taught students for decades through the Clarke School of Dress Making and Fashion Design. [Western Reserve Historial Society]
She teaches high fashion design couture techniques. But also, if you want to be trained in a garment industry factory job, he can also train you on such machines, says Patty Edmonson, curator of the exhibition now on display at the Cleveland History Center.
“I think playful is a good word for the style, sometimes it’s fun with a bit of shimmer,” said Edmonson.
Some of the designs on display at “Amanda Wicker: Black Fashion Design in Cleveland” at the Cleveland History Center [Carrie Wise / Ideatream Public Media]
For decades, Wicker has also celebrated the Clevelands Black fashion scene with an annual show called The Book of Gold. This large-scale event features models wearing the latest designs, live entertainment and scholarship awards for students.
Through fashion shows, Wicker creates opportunities not only for models, but also for musicians and printers and others who help create that gold standard fashion experience each year, Williams said.
Outside of school and fashion shows, Wicker is also active in the community as a member of the Antioch Baptist Church and Cleveland NAACP.
Reflecting on Wickers’ life in Cleveland, Williams said he believes Booker T. Washington, founder of the Wickers alma mater, will be proud of his legacy.
“I think Amanda Wicker is still teaching us after she died, just as she taught people her whole life,” Williams said.
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