Perrine DeShield-Jenkins Highlights Black Dandyism at the Gantt

When Met Gala organizers announced the annual ball’s 2025 gala theme, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, last fall, Perrine DeShield-Jenkins had one thought: Charlotte needs something like that.

Wearing a navy tie with red flowers, a light blue button up with white pinstripes under a blazer, and dangling pearl earrings, DeShield-Jenkins, known by many in Charlotte as Professor P, already looked ready for the gala when we spoke.

“I am forever in dandyism,” she said, referencing a fashion style that centers menswear and, in Black American culture, has roots that run from Reconstruction through the Harlem Renaissance into Blaxploitation and beyond.

On May 2, DeShield-Jenkins will bring her vision to The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture with Superfine at the Gantt: Exploring Black Dandyism. Featuring an interactive exhibit, panel discussions, photo activations, a rooftop party and runway show, the event will celebrate Black people’s indelible contributions to fashion while highlighting local Black designers tailoring their version of the dandy aesthetic today.

“We’re excited about the event because it gives us an opportunity to really showcase not only some amazing Black fashion designers and brands that are here in Charlotte, but also just the Black creative community in so many different facets and platforms,” DeShield-Jenkins told Queen City Nerve. “As Andre 3000 has said, ‘The South got something to say.’”

One of the things the South has to say is how it was the breeding ground for the iconic Black dandyism style.

In addition to showcasing local Black creatives, DeShield-Jenkins said she sees this event as an opportunity to connect the dots from where Black dandyism started, what it truly represents and how it has evolved over the years.

“Black people are fly,” she said. “We’re the flyest, to be honest. So, we deserve.”

André Leon Talley and the roots of Black dandyism

Every person’s idea of what constitutes Black fashion is different from the next, but for many people, Black dandyism is either some outdated idea or doesn’t come to mind at all in a discourse that might pit suits vs. streetwear.

For DeShield-Jenkins, however, Black dandyism is about rebelling against those sorts of stereotypes.

“A Black dandy is someone who takes fashion very seriously, you know, and more importantly, they understand their style, their aesthetic, who they are as a person,” she said. “They are fully aware of that and they utilize fashion to just share the rest of that with the world. It’s personal to them.

“They’re a risk taker,” she continued. “They’re someone who doesn’t necessarily just immerse themselves into different trends. They either start a trend or they are above and beyond a trend. A Black dandy is fearless when it comes to fashion. They’re a rebel. They are someone who is fully confident in who and what their personal style is.”

With Black dandyism hardly at top of mind in today’s fashion world, DeShield-Jenkins said she was intrigued to see the Met Gala step up to showcase the culture on such an important platform.

“For anyone who loves fashion, the Met Gala is the Super Bowl,” she said. “For us, it is a moment where we are all tuned in, locked in, and we all become the fashion police.”

It’s not just about getting off looks, either. For DeShield-Jenkins, the Met Gala — and by extension her own event at Gantt Center — is about educating folks on the history of the culture and its pioneers.

She points specifically to André Leon Talley, an icon of Black dandyism world and American fashion more broadly, or “the North Carolinian Black country boy who made it in the big city,” as she referred to him.

Raised in Durham during the Jim Crow Era by his grandmother who worked as a cleaning lady at Duke University, Talley discovered Vogue magazine in a local library as a child and became engrossed. He would go on to work closely with Andy Warhol, Anna Wintour and other giants of the fashion industry, even advising the Obamas on fashion in 2008.

“Andre Leon Talley is the dandy of all dandies,” DeShield-Jenkins said. “The gravity and the importance of Andre Leon Talley to the culture and fashion industry is so large.”

She called the upcoming Met Gala, scheduled for May 5, “the love letter that [Talley] always deserved.”

“It’s the flowers that he should have received when he was here with us. And I think that it’s so important that he’s acknowledged,” she continued. “So we can take the thing that was the most dear to him that is such a representation of his being. That’s why Black dandyism is so important. Because we set the trends, okay? We are the culture.”

Fashion’s biggest stage is a perfect place to showcase an important aspect of Black culture and fashion, so DeShield-Jenkins aimed to take a page out of their book and host her event at the Gantt on the weekend before the Met.

She could have held the event at other venues like the Mint Museum or Charlotte Convention Center, but it wouldn’t have the same significance, she insisted.

“Just working with the Harvey B. Gantt Center means so much,” she said. “As an African American museum and center for Black culture here in Charlotte, it is so centralized and so important to every Black creative here in Charlotte in so many different ways. You can relate some part of your career or trajectory or a moment to the Gantt Center.”

Keeping Charlotte creatives in the spotlight

“Art is all around you,” DeShield-Jenkins told us. “There are so many talented people in arm’s reach on a regular basis that make some really cool things that have really great visions and a really strong creative perspective.”

She enlisted the help of local creatives to get this message across. Attendees can expect to see Teejay Alston’s brand, Ambitious Rebirth, with sounds from Dammit Wesley and eats from The Thicc Co., a Black-owned, female-led sweet shop dedicated to honoring and preserving Black culture through food.

Professor P enlisted the help of fellow creatives davita galloway of DUPP&SWAT, Carla-Aaron Lopez of BlkMrktClt, and Shekinah Williams of The Kinah Kollection to curate an exhibit for the event titled Dissecting Dandyism.

Before committing to any plans for an annual gala similar to the Met, DeShield-Jenkins said she just wants to make it through the first one. One thing she knows for certain: She will keep highlighting Black excellence one way or another.

“I would honestly love to either continue showcasing Black perspectives of fashion themes, whether Met Gala or not, and just getting everyone really excited about fashion and art and our contributions,” she said. “I love Charlotte … I definitely see an option and an opportunity in a world where we can continue to really amplify the fashion creative scene here in Charlotte.”

Read more: Cheryse Terry Serves as Black History’s Protector in West Charlotte

DeShield-Jenkins is passionate about keeping the local scene in the spotlight, extolling the importance for Charlotte natives and transplants alike to know that the sort of creativity they’ll see both at the Met Gala and Gantt Center is existing and thriving right in their own backyard.

“I hope [Superfine] inspires people to know that you don’t always have to go to New York, you don’t always have to go to LA,” DeShield-Jenkins said. “You can actually do something that uplifts your community and the community that you are part of and ensure that everyone understands and sees your own piece of joy, light, and creativity.”