mcm italia The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, which will be formally dedicated Aug. 28��on the 48th anniversary of the civil-rights leader's "I Have a Dream" speech��opens to the public this week. Of all the individuals and corporations that have given money and lent their influence toward building the memorial, one of the most surprising��yet appropriate��may well be the Tommy Hilfiger Co.Style, after all, plays the role of silent orator in most every form of protest. And as civil-rights advocates fought for their humanity, self-definition was a fundamental goal. Fashion was essential.In the 1950s and '60s, when protesters sat for freedom at segregated lunch counters, boycotted buses and marched through the South, they dressed for thoughtful negotiation rather than mayhem. Theirs was a secular cause driven by morality and righteousness. It wasn't church, but through the protesters' attire, the cause was shown the same reverence and devotion.The men favored tailored coats and neat ties, perhaps even a fedora for added polish. The women donned dresses and skirts with sensible heels and more often than not looked as though they'd just emerged from the beauty salon.Over the years, as the faces history made famous have passed away, it's impossible to fully describe their legacy without giving some attention to their clothes. When Dorothy Height, the longstanding leader of the National Council of Negro Women, died in 2014, her formal hats and suits required a eulogy almost as much as the woman herself. With her words, she called for equal rights. With her clothes, she declared herself worthy of them.And even now, as a legal battle rages in Detroit over the estate of civil-rights activist Rosa Parks, one of the saddest revelations may very well be that the coat she was wearing that day in 1956, when she held her ground on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, has gone missing. In her mug shot, she looks so prim in her shawl-collared coat, with its horizontal weave, buttoned up high and proper.Fashion has continued to be an expression of identity, a way of getting others to take notice��whether it is the anarchists with their black T shirts and face-shielding bandannas or disenfranchised urban youth wearing oversize T shirts emblazoned with patriotic hues. Fashion, politics, race, and identity have an insistent relationship.Few fashion brands have been so closely linked to a modern cultural and social revolution as the Tommy Hilfiger Co. Rappers took its preppy polo shirts, dungarees, and boldly printed rugby shirts and made them their own by wearing them three and four sizes too large. They took the sportswear most closely associated with the Mayflower privileged and reappropriated it, creating a rallying cry for the urban, the poor, the feared."In a well-thought-out way, hip-hop kids were wearing their version of a flag," says Tommy Hilfiger, the company's founder and namesake. "It's also very similar to the hippie movement in the '60s, when the flag became a symbol of freedom and revolt against the Vietnam War."The King Memorial has been created through the largesse of a host of corporate donors��from Disney and Boeing to the NBA and BP. The biggest sponsorship commitment comes from General Motors. But while retailers such as Walmart and Macy's have offered support, Hilfiger is the project's only major fashion sponsor."I thought we should be involved as an American company," he says. "Our image has always been rooted in freedom and America. This memorial is an iconic expression of that."Hilfiger got into the fashion business when he opened a shop called The People's Place in his hometown of Elmira, N.Y., from which he sold hippie gear. "It was 1969, the year of Woodstock, the Vietnam War was raging," he says. "It was sort of a place for young people to congregate and buy fashion."He launched his eponymous fashion house in 1985 with a brazen Times Square billboard that declared him in the same category as industry legends Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Perry Ellis. As it turns out, the advertisement wasn't an overstatement. The company recently sold for $3 billion.Hilfiger, whose personal style is more tailored than casual, has a performer's toothy smile and a politician's knack for both starched informality and swagger. His official title at the company today is "principal designer and visionary.", Giuseppe Zanotti on sale "bottega veneta ipad case,"ugg boots coupon codes,"dillards uggs sale ,,At one o'clock in the mid-day,