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Did you know it was Therez Fleetwood who designed the kente cloth costumes for Mickey and Minnie Mouse in Disney® World Florida? These designs were created exclusively for the Miss Black Collegiate Pageant back in 1998. Her designs are now a part of Mickey and Minnie’s 150 Special Occasion outfits. It is the only time the Disney corporation allowed an outside designer to design for their icons. Way to go, Ms. Fleetwood! #MakingHistory

mickey and minnie therez fleetwood 1 — FINISHING TOUCHES – New York Designer Therez Fleetwood, of the Phe-Zula Collection, puts finishing touches on new costumes for Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Fleetwood worked with Walt Disney World’s creative costuming department on the costumes for the couple’s appearance on the nationally televised Miss Collegiate African American Pageant, taped at Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park. The colorful kente costumes will be added to their wardrobe of more than 150 special occasion outfits.

Designer Therez Fleetwood at the Walt Disney World costume department in Orlando Florida in 1998.

As a designer, I love it when I am able to be self-expressed with my creations. This dress was created exclusively for the finale of “LEGACY – Celebrating the Fabric of Our Culture” in Philadelphia, PA. For all you jazz enthusiasts… this one’s for you!

August Wilson Center for African American Culture hosted the Multicultural Arts Initiative’s third annual celebration of diversity in the arts with “Legacy: Celebrating the Fabric of Our Culture,” a program celebrating diversity and richness of the arts and fashion.

The evening culminated in a fashion show with the models of the Utopia Modeling Agency in a program titled, “FashionAfricana.” But this wasn’t your typical fashion show with models strutting fancy duds on a runway. The fun and creative styles were showcased as part of a skit, produced by Mark Southers of Pittsburgh Playrights Theatre Company, set in a 1940’s night club. The models of the Utopia Modeling agency acted as patrons to the club as the skit unfolded to the music of the PJO.

Creating this dress was an extremely long process. I used double-ply silk satin fabric, 1/8″ gold metallic cording, bugle beads, and seed beads. There is also a built-in corset and crinoline underneath. Here is the design and construction process below;

THE DESIGN PROCESS:

jazz laying out sketches — SKETCHING – I sketched all the Jazz band musicians. Including singer, trumpet, saxophone, trombone, bass, piano, drums, and guitar.

jazz tracing onto fabric — **LAYOUT & TRACING:** I placed the sketches along the bottom of the dress and then traced the images on the fabric to create the lines for stitching.

jazz fabric and trims — **MATERIALS**: I used double silk satin fabric and 1/8″ metallic gold cording. Also included hand-sewn beads.

jazz sewing — **SEWING:** I machine stitched the 1/8″ trim (inch-by-inch) along the chalk lines and hand hand-sewn the beaded trims to create the artwork on the dress.

Therez Fleetwood and Walt Disney® World

All That Jazz! Celebrating The Fabric Of Our Culture