Lois K. Alexander-Lane was an acclaimed fashion designer. She founded the Harlem Institute of Fashion in 1966, offering courses in dressmaking, millinery and tailoring. The courses were free with only a $10 registration fee and 4,500 students graduated by 1987. She also founded the National Association of Milliners, Dressmakers and Tailors in 1966. In 1979, Alexander-Lane opened the Black Fashion Museum in Harlem. It was the first collection to highlight African-American fashion designers from throughout the country’s history, and Alexander-Lane received little funding and largely funded the museum herself. The original site in Harlem on West 126th Street now houses the William J. Clinton Foundation.
