The Maryland-born stylist Dionne Alexander’s favorite hairpiece is the wig she created for the rapper Lil’ Kim to wear to the 2001 MTV Music Video Awards. Long, straight and the color of egg yolk, it is bisected horizontally by a giant and completely unmissable black fabric and rhinestone zipper.
When the singer wanted shoulder length hair, she unzipped the wig with a flip of her wrist. When she preferred longer locks, she re-attached the bottom tresses.
The broadcast’s nearly 12 million viewers couldn’t stop talking about that wig — and even 20 years later it’s easy to understand why.
Now, Baltimore fashion fans can check out Alexander’s unabashedly over-the-top creation for themselves. The zipper wig is one of four iconic hairpieces she designed for Kim and then recreated for “The Culture: Hip-Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century,” a ticketed exhibit opening this week at the Baltimore Museum of Art. (Admission is free on April 16, May 21 and June 18.)
“Kim was so much fun,” Alexander said. “She merged fashion and hip-hop, and she was very open to trying things as an artist.”
Alexander, now 55, was the hottest hair stylist of the 1990s, even if few people outside the entertainment industry knew her name. She created iconic ‘dos worn by hip-hop royalty Mary J. Blige and Lauryn Hill — looks still copied today.
She is finally to beginning to receive long-overdue recognition, now that her designs will be shown in four North American museums. After leaving Baltimore in July, “The Culture” will travel to St. Louis, Cincinnati and Toronto. Her…
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