Over the weekend, 17-year-old Milan Bolden-Morris set the internet abuzz with her black and white #BlackLivesMatter prom dress.
Her floor length gown, decorated with the faces of 15 victims of police brutality including Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and Mike Brown, made quite a fashionable statement about the continued fight and recognition of Civil Rights. It also showed that the youth are not aloof to political issues of our day.
The stretch polyester/scuba stunner was the brainchild of Palm Beach designer Terrence Torrance, who was kind enough to chat with us about his inspiration for the gown. He says, “I had this idea last year at a time when the #BlackLivesMatter movement was going strong. I thought it would be dope to put it on a dress. I was working at a printing company, learning how to put print onto material like lycra and scuba. I wanted to do one last year, but I was too busy. This year, I kept telling myself that I needed to do the dress. Then Solange’s album came out, and I’m a big fan of Solange, so I told myself, I have to do this dress.”
He continues, “When Milan came, she came for a regular prom dress. I told her my idea about the Travyon Martin and Black Lives Matter dress, and she was like Ok, I’ll do it. The rest is history.”
The mermaid style gown took 4 days to complete, and is decorated with over 15 faces of those unjustly slain.
Terrence has been designing custom creations for 15 years, and counts Lil Kim, Remy Ma, Trina, Nicki Minaj, Natalie Nunn, and Juelz Santana as clients. To those designers looking to make a statement, he offers, “Follow your dreams. Do You. Put yourself out there. Malls and stores are closing down and independent designers are coming up. It’s our time to go hard.”
Be sure to follow Terrence on Instagram @TerrenceTorrence and follow his muse, Milan @_milan23_.