 Hello. My name is Mara Edmonds. I'm a program assistant at Cooper Hewitt-Masonium Design Museum, and today I will be introducing the short film, Expedition, directed by Max Vadokal in 1985 for WiliWare. In 1985, Willie Smith and Lori Millay decided to forego the standard runway presentation for the WiliWare Spring 1986 collection. They decided to produce a short film, Expedition, to communicate the inspiration for a narrative behind the collection. Willie Smith spoke about the collection in a September 1985 interview for Women's Wear Daily stating, The collection has an African theme. We thought of doing a runway format again, but we didn't want to drop the whole mixed media idea we've developed. I want this to be a whole new way to show clothes. We're not just doing a movie and throwing WiliWare into it. This is a sort of fashion photo come to life. The WiliWare Spring 1986 collection incorporated influences from traditional West African dress. These influences are seen through interpretations of West African diorysis patterns on textiles, specifically the pattern and diorysis technique on the Malian mudcloth wrapper known as the Bokeland Fini. Smith playfully interpreted the Bokeland Fini diorysis pattern within the Spring 1986 collection by creating a print that featured outlines of abstract smiling faces in the light vibrant colors against dark browns. The inclusion of Koofy hats with the WiliWare Bokeland Fini inspired print as well as West African head wraps showed these influences in the styling of the collection. Additionally, the collection included several garments with printed motifs featuring three-quarter and profile views of beautifully illustrated dark-skinned women of African descent wearing vibrant head wraps and hoop earrings. This depiction of dark-skinned women on mass-produced clothing was an early example of black aesthetic printed apparel we see today bearing positive images of black women. For the Spring 1986 collection and the film, Smith sought to explore and connect to his Senegalese roots while commenting on colonialism through character interactions and clothing selections such as the inclusion of the pith helmet in the film, an item long associated with colonial rule, and through the sense of control expressed by the white male character in the film known as Chiki. Chiki travels to Africa carrying African models dressed in WiliWare in a suitcase and throughout the film instructs or corrects the locals around him. Kenyan-born photographer Max Vadoekel directed Expedition in Dakar, Senegal in 1985 and also choreographed the cast movements for the film. Another break from tradition with Expedition was Smith's decision to cast dancers as both actors and models, dancers from the National Dance Company of Senegal. The theater national Daniel Serrano dance troupe were the primary actors in the film as well as Dakar locals. Vadoekel recalls his and Smith's conversation about the film early on, sharing, I arrive in America at a certain point and I meet this guy who tells me that he wants to do a film about his African roots and he wants to do it in Africa. Expedition wasn't made just to create something beautiful, there was a reason for it. Wili had learned that his family originated in Senegal and he used the film as a means to understand his history. I can't think of another example at the time of a fashion collection being put into a narrative film. Wili was really quite far ahead in his embrace of film and video. Wili Smith and Laurie Millay had experience and success in orchestrating a short fashion film with Made in New York directed by Les Levine in 1985. The short film that was commissioned for the spring 1986 collection was also met with great success. Friends and frequent collaborators with Smith and Millay, Linda Mason, Peter Gordon and Mark Bozak were also involved in the project. Makeup artist Linda Mason created each of the makeup books in the film. Composer Peter Gordon produced the music for the film and Wili were communications director at the time Mark Bozak served as executive producer. Expedition was groundbreaking at the time of its debut at Zegfeld Theatre in 1985 during New York Fashion Week. Wiliware was the only brand developing multi-disciplinary film projects that melded fashion design, performance and narrative storytelling. In recent years, young contemporary designers have meshed the presentation of clothing in both narrative and artistic forms in film. These designers include Gareth Pugh and Kirby Jean Raymond, with Raymond often delivering hopeful and inspiring messages particularly geared toward the Black community with his fashion presentations, advertisements and press releases for Pierre Moss. When we see these multimedia cinematic presentations today, we hope that Wili Smith's name will come to mind as an early forerunner for this evocative practice in the fashion industry. Thank you and please stay tuned to enjoy a screening of Expedition.