Beyond the Easter egg hunts, the baskets stuffed with shredded tissue paper, and the sugar highs from too much candy, church is at the heart of many early morning Easter rituals. While I can’t recall the services themselves, I can still remember exactly what I wore to them: especially the frilly white socks peeking out from patent leather shoes, and the impossible task of keeping them clean. I remember the all-white dress, fluffed with tulle in a cupcake silhouette, delicate and deliberate.
For many within the Baptist denomination, Easter Sunday church service isn’t just a religious obligation, it’s a homecoming. It becomes a community celebration, a gathering to honor—as many lovingly put it—“Christ’s resurrection.” People arrive dressed in fresh, spring-inspired looks, often wearing something new to mark rebirth and reverence. The church swells with a shared spirit, and by the service’s end, as the congregants overflow into the streets, so does the fashion.
There, a distinctly Southern-rooted style appears: wide-brimmed hats with tulle, pastel suits, floral dresses, and, among children, those same frilly white socks.
In Harlem, the Abyssinian Baptist Church—a gothic historic megachurch—is a centerpiece for local communities. Rooted in a rich history dating back to 1808, the church carries an iconic legacy, having welcomed patrons including André Leon Talley, freedom riders such as Samuel DeWitt Proctor, and pastors like Adam Clayton Powell Sr.
For the church’s 218th Easter, we captured the essence of traditional Southern Baptist style, its deep East African roots, and the evolving interpretations of generational dressing.
