Style can be described in many ways.
It can be self-expression, cultural or even everlasting.
This story is about beauty, style and politics and
centres around my great-grandmother, Ethel Kerr, who can be seen as one of
the earliest black British style influencers of her time.
My name is Cagney and I'm a Londoner of Jamaican descent working at the BBC.
Ethel Kerr is a 102-years-old and
was once a local London based fashion designer
and black community figure from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Ethel used to run progressive and fierce fashion shows and beauty competitions
in London and across Europe around a time where not many events
like this existed for black women and other women of colour.
Ethel was born in a small town called Braeton
in Jamaica to a family of farmers.
She enrolled into a fashion school in Kingston,
because of her love of creativity and desire to contribute
to the vibrant 1930s music and art scene in downtown Kingston.
I wanted to be creative in whatever I do.
And I joined a fashion house, and
they will teach me different techniques in what to do to drape clothes.
To do embroidery, all different things.
Jamaica has a saying which goes:
Basically meaning, Jamaica is a small country,
but it's mighty and strong and you can clearly see this
through the island's heavy influence in the UK and around the world
in music, food and drink, film, sports, and of course – fashion and beauty.
Ethel arrived in the UK in the 50s.
The majority of West Indians who arrived in the UK
at the time experienced hardships and felt ostracised.
The UK was not as welcoming as many young Caribbean's had hoped.
Fortunately, Ethel was embraced by women in the Jewish community in North London.
They introduced her to new friends, her first home and her first job.
Well, I liked dressmaking that much, that I tried to get a machine,
and that was what my landlord did for me.
The wife had a second-hand machine,
and she gave it to me to use as long as I want.
I worked in the day and in the evenings, I used to sew little things for myself.
Because of these relationships and the kindness,
she was shown, this ignited something inside of her.
Ethel met her business partner, Desmie McClean in the North London
They saw the importance of community within minorities
and wanted to celebrate diversity to provide more spaces for women like them.
Well, I didn't think I would end up doing fashion shows in Britain.
Because I was thinking that Britain was so big,
that nobody would want to come to my fashion show.
But we were very successful with it.
We put our heads together and decided that to keep the children off the street
and nothing to occupy them in their teenage life,
she would do some hairstyles and I can do some designs for dresses.
We used to put on the show, just for entertaining the public.
So, when I design a suit or a dress, the audience like it,
they order it, and I'm able to supply it.
I'd get sales to make that dress over,
or a suit, over and over again for different people.
During the 70s and 80s there was
an interesting dichotomy in the country's government leadership.
On one hand there was a strong female figure head in the British government.
On the other hand, it was a government that did not necessarily consider
the needs of women from poor and ethnic minority backgrounds living in the UK.
Particularly within the job market, housing, and health care.
The need for more inclusive spaces was crucial for women
from these backgrounds to be seen and heard.
It became a poignant act of resistance.
At the time, young black girls, we weren't seen.
I think what she did, she took a lot of us
from that space where, yeah, we were playing and having fun,
but then as we're getting older, other things could happen to us.
And it was that time when she just took us
and gave us something positive to do, something positive to look forward to,
and also enhanced who we were. You know, gave us a presence,
that, you know, we are lovely, we are beautiful, we are someone.
Where we were coming from, we were just really unseen, unheard of, just there.
There was no 'black beauty' that we could see other
than making our own creation of 'black beauty'
and celebrating that in the community.
Because the competition models actually went through the family.
They would go from the mini models, the junior models,
the miss elegance's and then glamorous grandmothers.
And that is, sort of, beauty throughout the ages of being, you know,
a black woman or a woman of colour. Women were seeking a space to voice
and express themselves through artistic means.
The fashion shows and modelling competitions became
an important space for black women to come together.
For me, fashion shows and beauty competitions always have their place.
And it's not about other people, and this is the thing,
it's a personal thing about a woman, and what it makes her feel like.
And you know somebody would say: 'Well you're up there parading yourself
in front of people' and so forth and so forth.
You're actually up there parading yourself in front
of yourself. You're building yourself,
you're building self-awareness, you're building something for you.
To be honest – I don't think I actually saw it at the time
as being a part of strong women.
I saw it as, this was something that we took part in, we were all happy.
And I think on reflection, in my later years,
I actually understood what being courageous was
and I understood what leadership was,
but it was only through, sort of, a hindsight,
in how strong these women were in terms of making changes and doing things,
putting themselves at the forefront. Clayton Goodwin is a journalist
and author specialising in West Indian culture.
He met Ethel at an industry event and was fascinated by her work.
They joined forces in the 80s to produce
vibrant fashion and beauty events across Europe.
I put on a few beauty contests in the 1970s,
to protest against the policy of the Miss England contests
of only having people who were born in this country.
Mrs Kerr was just somebody I met at functions.
She put on functions and invited me as a reporter to report them.
And then when I became a promoter as well
full-time, I must say she advised me on promotions,
and I always, every time I make a speech publicly, refer to her
as my promotional godmother. It's very strange to say this,
but she always come across as somebody who was the leader of the people
that were doing what they were doing, but it was by her personality.
Ethel helped to set the foundation for the body positivity movement.
She was highly influential in creating a platform for women, especially black women.
However, racism and colourism still exists, and
people are starting to scrutinise the impact of Eurocentric beauty standards
and cultural appropriation within the world of beauty and fashion.
Young models and Influencers such as Ebonee Davis and Leomie Anderson
are helping to reshape the aesthetic of beauty and fashion today.
You know, in terms of her style and influence,
I think it was a really great one,
in terms of impacting upon the community.
Because she was so creative, and
she could help other women and young children,
and the community look glamorous in some way, shape or form,
either by seeing them or by dressing them.
She's given me that feeling that I can shine,
I can be anything that I want to be.
I run a shop now with fashion, I'm always around fashion and art
and I think that all of that has stemmed from the fact that I,
from a little age, I was involved in fashion shows
and it's given me that confidence to be where I am today.
As well as touching the lives of many young women,
Ethel has had a great influence on my life too.
Being a queer person, Ethel has always accepted me as I am
and has encouraged me to embrace and celebrate my identity.
She is charismatic, has elegant style,
and for as long as I can remember has always been inclusive, offering support
even when I wanted to hi-jack her stage to strut my stuff on the catwalk.