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On Friday, February 9th 2001, HarlemLive headed to Harlemade, a museum on 174 Lenox Ave., to interview fashion industry pioneer Lloyd Boston. Lloyd Boston is the author of the fashion book for men entitled "Men of Color". We asked Mr. Boston a few questions about his youth, when he realized that he wanted to become part of the fashion industry, and how he became vice-president of art direction for Tommy Hilfiger. Born and raised in New Jersey, Mr. Boston, now 30 years old, was able to identify his passion early on. "I knew what I loved to do. Just design. Not clothes but follow style." He received a B.F.A. in fine arts and graphic design after attending Rutgers University in New Jersey. Mr. Boston got his big break while a sophomore at Morehouse College: he met Tommy Hilfiger at a mall appearance. Mr. Boston was offered an internship in graphic design and in return received a scholarship to finish his college studies. While at the Harlemade museum, we were surrounded by many African-American artifacts. So the question arose as to why he felt Harlem was the right place to unleash his book a second time. Mr. Boston said that so many of the men in the book were inspired by Harlem he definitely had to incorporate that section of New York in the book. He also told us that he was lucky to be raised in New Jersey because he only lived 45 minutes away from New York City and " New York has a flavor all it's own". We asked him if working with such an important man like Tommy Hilfiger was a lot of pressure for him and he very calmly and happily told us that "not necessarily" because at that point he had grown up with the company and he had been working around Mr. Hilfiger for close to 10 years. He also said that he felt "honored" to be by Mr. Hilfiger's side as the clothing and fashion company grew bigger. Lloyd Boston has accomplished so many things, that I just had to find out if he thought he was a stepping-stone for colored men in the fashion industry. He told us that he would hope so. "I hope young people would see men of color and be inspired by the fact that [my book] is a coffee table book about fashion that celebrates a piece of our community, especially young people of color." Mr. Boston also gives back to the community. Last year he was able to be part of a program called "principal for a day" which was really exciting for him because he had a chance to go to a Technical school for the study of beauty and fashion. He helped the kids relate to the fashion world and gave them good advice on how to work in the industry. Not only that, but he also has done work with a non-profit organization that supports people of color in the fashion industry. What's in the near future for Lloyd Boston? He told HarlemLive exclusively that he's going to continue writing books, and is currently working on his second book right now. He hopes it will be published next year. In the meantime, he will still consult for Tommy Hilfiger. He will also keep appearing regularly on the Today Show and The Weekend Today Show for NBC.
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