Nassau News

These occasional models, whose church roles include serving as ushers, co-chairs of the Women’s Day Committee and members of the Women’s Ministry, were: Barbara Birch-Barker, Betty Bedford, Sammie Brown, Madona Cole-Lacy, Easter Frye, Debrah Hatch, Blythe Holley, Roberta London, Cassandra Swanson, Edna Swint and Linda Wray.

“Faith and fashion go hand in hand because all of our work is about pleasing God,” the emcee for the program, Minister Seretta C. McKnight, said at the opening of the Saturday morning plenary session of a three-day conference called “Defining Culture Through Dress: Individual and Collective Identities.”

From the days of slavery, when black women were “dehumanized”, according to Minister McKnight, they held to their faith. “It was faith that sustained us from can’t see in the morning to can’t see at night.” But it was dressing up on Sundays that provided them an outlet to exhibit their dignity and their devotion. “It was a way for us to identify ourselves, to be able to dress up. Many of us were domestics, especially in the earlier parts of the 20th century.”

They wore uniforms that gave them a collective identity, but obscured their individuality, she said.

“So when Sunday morning came, we were able to dress up. Why? Because the same God that took care of our ancestors was taking care of us, and we knew that we wanted to give our very best. So to give our very best, we had to dress up, and then we topped it off with our crowning glory: our hats.

“Yes, hair is important, but it was the hat that defined our individuality, that expressed our station, if you will. The more drama, the more ‘hat-itude.’ ”

Roberta London, who organized the fashion show and was among the 11 models, wore one of her favorites, a gold hat made of straw and horse hair, and, later, a new one to her collection, a green feathery headband. “The way I was raised, you dressed a certain way to go to church, to go to Sunday School. Certain things you wore, certain things you did not wear.”

Madona Cole-Lacy, who modeled a couple of hats, also displayed her own creations throughout the conference. So did Otis Holley of Otis Damon' Millinery (P.O. Box 511, Hempstead). The Swan Hat Group (Web: www.swanhat.com, telephone: 516-256-0420) from Valley Stream set up a display of hats that proved most popular among conference attendees, including orthodox Jewish women who also like to adorn their heads for worship services. Men, among them Frederick Swint, were also captivated. A Union member who was there to cheer on his wife, Edna, one of the models, he purchased two hats for her, one silver, one gold.

Sandra Murphy purchased two hats, but Laura Napier outdid her by buying five to add to an extensive collection which she keeps in a special room in her home. Her mother, approaching 90, still wears her church hats, and Napier, approaching 70, says, “From the time I was a little girl, we had to wear a hat, gloves and stockings for our outfits to be complete.” She loves to travel and always comes back with hats. But her enthusiasm for church hats hasn’t caught on with the younger generation of her family. “I am disappointed that my granddaughters don't like the church hats. They're more into the newer, modern hats.”

One of the youngest models in the show, Cassandra Swanson, 33, who has six church hats, understood Napier’s concerns. She says that the tradition is starting to die out a little among the younger generations of women at Union. “We want to keep it alive.”

But she’s not into the traditional hats. Looking around the room, she said, “These hats are beautiful, but they’re not really my style. What does my hat say about me? Trendy, current, but sophisticated, and classic.”

Rosalie Groves, whose husband died five years ago, nearly stole the show when Minister McKnight called her up from the audience to model her custom-made Egyptian-inspired hat. Of her husband, she said: “He used to call me his Egyptian queen.”

She acknowledges that she loves “dressing up.”

“When you get older, most people get to be bland,” she said. “I'm 63 years old. It's time to be young again.”

Union Baptist Church is located at 24 Hastings Place, Hempstead, NY 11550. Phone: (516) 483-3088 or 486-9266

Minister Seretta C. McKnight, a Union Baptist Church member who resides in Roosevelt, is president of Sisters In The Struggle. She hosts a radio program on Fridays from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m on 1520 AM [ WTHE]