SALE SET TO GO: Property from the groundbreaking dressmaker Arthur McGee will go under the gavel at Hindman Auctions in mid-March.

In 1957, McGee became the primary African American designer to run a Seventh Avenue design studio — Bobbie Brooks — doing so on the age of 24. Largely unheralded during his profession, McGee, who died in 2019, helped pave the way in which for other African American designers like Willi Smith, Stephen Burrows, Scott Barrie, Jeffrey Banks and B. Michael. What distinguished him from others was the multiple platforms he worked on, running his own signature shop, selling his collection to malls and dealing on his own on Seventh Avenue. McGee forged into fashion at a time of great racial divide within the U.S. Post-Bobbie Brooks, he ventured out on his own working from a St. Mark’s Place atelier. He also designed the Tammy Andrews juniors label at one point for the corporate Stacey Ames. In 1965, he opened his own store on Third Avenue, aptly named “The Store.” His collection of unpolluted styles was also sold via Bloomingdale’s, Henri Bendel and Saks Fifth Avenue. Combining African fabrics with Asian-inspired silhouettes, McGee’s apparel appealed to a big selection of shoppers crossing all ethnicities.

The McGee collection shall be a part of Hindman’s March 14 Spring Fashion & Accessories auction. Along with dresses, sportswear and jackets designed by McGee, there shall be photographs of him, including a couple of with pre-sale estimates starting from $4,000 to $6,000.

Born in Detroit, McGee’s mother was a dressmaker who could make patterns from newspaper. He began designing hats for her on the age of 15. He first got here to Latest York after winning a scholarship to Traphagen School of Design, and later studied millinery and apparel design on the Fashion Institute of Technology. During that point, he also worked at Charles James for a period. After being told that there have been no jobs for Black designers, McGee ditched the tutorial route and arrange his own downtown operation catering to actresses. He later segued into making clothes for Broadway actors and dealing for Seventh Avenue corporations reminiscent of College Town of Boston. McGee once recalled how he “worked in backrooms designing whole collections with no credit,” when he started off in fashion.

McGee was a supporter of the Fashion Coalition, a gaggle formed in 1968 to advertise the advancement of Blacks in the style industry and to encourage more to hitch.