Mary Wilson and Diana Ross in Detroit, 1965. And of course, Diana and I had Home Economics in school, so that’s where we learned to sew. I can remember being in church on Sunday as a little girl and admiring the parade of these big, beautiful hats. Black people knew how to dress and we really got that from our community. Our parents and aunts and uncles dressed beautifully: the hats, the suits, they were sharp. There were so many misconceptions about Black people in America at the time, that we were somehow uncouth or unsophisticated, but that’s nonsense.

No, I don’t think it was that, I think it was our own parents.

Did that knowledge of sewing help you appreciate the elaborate costumes that would come later, and ultimately lead you on your quest to preserve them? I loved reading about the early days of The Supremes and how you sewed your own clothes using Butterick patterns. Glamorous as ever and every bit as engaging as you’d expect, Wilson discussed everything from the early days of her career to experiences with racism in the Deep South and run-ins with royalty. It was the eve of the publication of her book, Supreme Glamour, a passion project of Wilson’s: She worked for years to track down the group's lost costumes and establish an archive, the Mary Wilson Collection. In 2019, I caught up with Wilson while she was in residence at New York’s Carlyle Hotel, performing nightly shows at Café Carlyle. With their boundary-breaking mix of style and talent, the trio helped pave the way for Black R&B musicians both at home and abroad.

The original girl group, which featured Wilson, Diana Ross, and Florence Ballard, formed in 1955 and would prove to be one of Motown Records' biggest exports. Mary Wilson, the Supremes founding member who died last week at 76, may have been born in Greenville, Mississippi, but it was Detroit, where her family relocated when Wilson was three, that would propel her to icon status.

Supreme Glamour by Mary Wilson