Adrienne Jones

Adrienne Jones, Founder/Chief Creative Officer of Black Dress. Professor Jones holds the honor of being the first Black woman to achieve tenured professor status at Pratt Institute. For more than 20 years, she has served as faculty adviser for Pratt’s Fashion Society and has twice received the Outstanding Organization Adviser award for her work with and dedication to the club. Jones has taught in the Department of Fashion at Pratt for more than 25 years and developed both the adult education and pre-college programs in fashion for the School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

In 2014, Jones conceived and co-curated the landmark exhibition Black Dress, which honors Black designers and addresses the lack of diversity in the fashion industry. The exhibition was an unprecedented endeavor to coalesce a diverse array of contemporary design styles that inform and educate the New York fashion community, as well as new audiences, on the commemorative work of Black designers. The Black Dress project includes a website that serves as a source of information and reference, a digital exhibition, and “Black Dress TV,” where video interviews of prominent Black/African American figures of the fashion industry can be found. Jones is currently writing the companion book to the exhibition and working on expanding and touring the exhibition.

Jones is a painter, photographer, and fashion designer who specializes in leather and suede for her private clients. She has worked as a fashion show producer, creative director, and stylist for special events. Jones holds degrees in Art Therapy (M.S.), Art Education (B.S.), Fashion Design (A.A.S.), and has won many awards and honors in her field, including Innovative Visionary Icon of the Decade in 2015 and Distinguished Teacher Award in 2017-18.

Rachelle Etienne-Robinson

Rachelle Etienne-Robinson is a creative director, designer, producer, and arts administrator. Rachelle was born in Queens, NY, and raised in Fairfax, VA. Her love for art, design, and crafts developed in middle school and led her to further her education, obtaining a BFA in Fashion Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. 

Rachelle had the pleasure of studying fashion at Pratt under the tutelage of Professor Adrienne Jones. Her experience spans the fields of design, fashion, media, marketing, events, education, and arts administration. She has worked for several organizations like Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, The Knot Inc., the District of Columbia Public Schools, the Arts Council of Fairfax County, and George Mason University.

In 2013, Rachelle started her own fashion and accessory line, ChezChelle Designs, a custom design clothing and accessory brand. In 2017, she and her husband, Stan "Substantial" Robinson founded Substantial Art & Music LLC (SAM), an organization that provides consulting services to visual and performing artists. Rachelle has lent her voice for voiceover roles and is the co-host and producer of the ARTdustry Podcast. Additionally, Rachelle is an emerging filmmaker. In 2021, Rachelle obtained her certification in Film and TV Industry Essentials from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Since then, Rachelle has written, directed, and edited documentary shorts and music videos. 

As creative director of Black Dress, Rachelle leads the development and creative vision of Black Dress and exhibits that vision through social media, digital marketing, video, and special events. Rachelle's purpose is to continue to share the stories that have yet to be told.

Jelani Bandele

Jelani Bandele is the Consulting Producer for Black Dress. Bandele is a native New Yorker who’s knack for storytelling is second nature. Bandele’s career spans the areas of art, fashion, beauty and entertainment as a writer, author, curator, publicist and public speaker. Her career trajectory also includes writing for the major publishing houses Billboard and Fairchild Publications, directing music marketing campaigns and teaching at the college level.  

Today, her primary focus is on legacy, telling the stories of Black people and Black communities worldwide and
encouraging others to do the same to archive history as it really happened with their inclusion. She is the founder of Tell Legacy, a website curating Black history as it is being made.

Bandele also manages the 32-year-old affinity group, The Black Alumni of Pratt, which supports Pratt Institute’s Black and Latinx students and alumni. She serves on the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center’s advisory board and The Black Alumni of Pratt advisory council. She holds degrees from the Fashion Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute, Long Island University and SUNY Downstate. She is the author of Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to Life and Leisure in Clinton Hill Fort Greene, and co-author of The Art of Dressing Curves (Susan Moses) and TUNSTULL from Fashion to Fine Art (Glenn Tunstull)

Blumlein Associates, Inc. serves as the exhibition designers for Black Dress.  BAI was established in 1983 by Fred Blumlein, whose varied career in the industrial, graphic, and environmental-design disciplines led him to create BAI.  In 2009, Chris Leonardi became the new owner of BAI.  The goals are; be passionate about what we do, strive to find the best solution for the task at hand, be professional in how we conduct ourselves, and financially responsible to our clients — all while having fun.  BAI's trademark of their work — inspiration, joy and function.