Just Wear It: Nike, Hip-Hop, & Fashion

Poster House’s new exhibition, Just Frame It! How Nike Turned Sports Stars into Superheroes, explores Nike’s tremendous impact on sports culture. But the influence of the global sportswear brand isn’t just limited to football fields and tennis courts. Join the museum’s Assistant Curator of Collections, Es-pranza Humphrey, in conversation with curator, journalist, and professor, Elena Romero, for an engaging conversation about Nike’s broader resonance in the worlds of hip-hop, fashion, and pop culture. This wide-ranging dialogue will delve into Nike’s impact off the courts and across decades, from hip-hop of the 1980s to contemporary athleisure. Questions are strongly encouraged!

Elena Romero is the Assistant Chair and Assistant Professor of Marketing Communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and an award-winning correspondent and producer for CUNY TV. Over the course of her 30-year journalistic career, Romero has chronicled the importance of streetwear and hip-hop culture for numerous publications, including WWD, Vibe, and Sportswear International. Romero’s expertise has also been called upon in such documentaries as Fresh Dressed and Hip Hop x Fashion; most recently, she co-hosted and produced CUNY TV’s Hip Hop Subway:The L Line. She is the author of Freestylin’: How Hip Hop Changed the Fashion Industry (Bloomsbury) and co-editor and co-curator of the Museum at FIT’s Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style (Rizzoli). 

Es-pranza Humphrey is the Assistant Curator of Collections at Poster House in New York City. She received her BA in History from the University of New Haven and her MA in American Studies from Columbia University where she examined American history, literature, and culture as it interacts with countries across the globe. Her research has incorporated interdisciplinary approaches to spotlight the Black feminine identity expressed through various forms of performance art and fashion. She has been featured in The New Yorker, ABC Here and Now, National Public Radio (NPR), the Fashion and Race Database and a number of international publications for her curatorial work on the visual media of the Black Panther Party. Her latest research endeavors focus on Black women’s fashion and Black theater in the early-mid 20th century.

Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event related questions, please contact info@posterhouse.org.