Southern Diva

I stumbled across Erica’s Tik Tok page as she was documenting her process of leaving her day job as a fashion designer in Los Angeles, California and moving across the country to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to start her own label, 1389 Woodliff. Her goal is the amplify Black Southern culture through fashion. She does that through her “Journey” dress and other dresses inspired by Southern gothic culture. I want to highlight the “Journey” dress that was released as a part of her first collection earlier this month.

The “Journey” dress features symbols commonly used by Black quilt makers across the South. These symbols were often used as coded language for those who were enslaved in search for their freedom.The dress features four quilt codes beginning with the crossroads symbol featured on a blue background. It refers to Cleveland, Ohio, a location known to have many routes to freedom. It was known as “Station Hope” on the underground railroad especially due to it’s proximity to Lake Erie and Canada, and the abundance of abolitionists and safe houses in the city. The yellow pattern below that features the monkey wrench, which means prepare for the journey ahead. Next, is a wagon wheel in red amplified by a soft pink background, telling those who saw it to pack for their journey Lastly the bottom portion, which encompasses half of the dress features the flying geese symbol. Canadian geese are known to fly South in the winter and North in the summer. This was a way letting travelers know which direction was north.

The practice of this form of quilt making extended beyond emancipation. A very popular group you may have heard of are the quilters of Gee’s Bend based in Gee’s, Alabama. Their works have even been shown in museums across the country and internationally. Their works are recognized as an instrumental contribution to American art history.

If you want to shop the journey dress and others in the collection, click here.