Mary J. Blige can boast luxury boot partnerships with Giuseppe Zanotti. But the music icon remembers the days when fashion boutiques were “rejecting” her business.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and her longtime stylist, Misa Hylton, appear in the new Hulu documentary In Vogue: The 90s. In episode 5, titled “Hip Hop Takes Fashion,” Blige and Hylton recall the mistreatment and dismissals they experienced when they were starting their careers. They recall the time they went to a shopping boutique in the early ’90s and weren’t accepted.
“We went to a boutique, and we were shopping,” Hylton explains, as captured by People. “When it’s time to pay, the sales associate keeps telling us. ‘The card’s declining.’ They keep trying.”
“We call the credit card company. The card’s not declining. It’s actually not even being rung. Like, ‘Oh, OK. You don’t want us to buy these items.’ It’s because we were young and we were Black, and they could not figure out
how we were spending this much money. They didn’t even realize who Mary J. Blige was yet, and so you see how luxury fashion brands didn’t really value us or didn’t respect us. They didn’t see their brands on us.”“They were rejecting us,” Blige added. “They were treating us like little street kids. They didn’t want to — they probably didn’t want to take our business. They weren’t treating us the way they treat us now. Absolutely not.”
Blige has since gone on to sell millions of records, win nine Grammy Awards
, be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and secure partnerships for her luxury boots, which sold out in just one day. Another episode of the documentary features Mary J. Blige and Missy Elliott reflecting on their iconic 1998 Vogue fashion shoot with Lil’ Kim.“It took a lot to be able to get into Vogue,” Elliott says. “The strength of showing three Black women in this particular article — that was a huge deal.”
Others featured in the documentary include Tommy Hilfiger, Naomi Campbell, and longtime Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. In Vogue: The ’90s is now streaming on Hulu.
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