Ali Richmond’s Crown Heights Loft Has a Higher Purpose

The Central Room: The Pende Dance Costume, center, is from the Cathryn Cootner Collection auction and dates from the 1800s. The wooden Dogon walu mask is from Mali. The antique shield of woven fiber is from Nagaland and dates from the late-19th century. The Bouloum lounge chair by Olivier Mourgue and the octagonal table in glass and Plexiglas by Alessandro Albrizzi are both from the 1970s. Photo: Annie Schlechter

It was musical chairs over the years,” Ali Richmond says of the various artist-roommates he shared this Crown Heights loft with since landing there in 2005. The squat, two-story former factory has neither an ­elevator or a doorbell, so to be let in, a call is necessary. The setup on the 3,000-square-foot second floor was a bit of a throwback: four artists, each with a bedroom, sharing a common workspace and splitting the rent. “I wasn’t a painter or sculptor at the time,” Richmond says, and when he was asked by one of his prospective roommates what kind of art he made, he ­responded, “ ‘I’m wearing it’ — I was wearing a sweater that I had reconstructed out of this vintage one, and I said, ‘This is my work; this is also art.’ ”

In the summer of 2016, in the wake of the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and ­Philando Castile by police, there were protests all over the country, including a ­silent one organized by Hannah Stoudemire on July 12 during Men’s Fashion Week in front of the Skylight Clarkson Square event space. It lasted six hours. The press noticed, the Council of Fashion Designers of America CEO ­Steven Kolb posted it, and conversations ­began. Afterward, Richmond reached out to Stoudemire, who worked for Lanvin at the time and whom he knew from dabbling in set design. “He said,” ­Stoudemire remembers, “ ‘This is a ­powerful moment; let’s turn it into a powerful movement.’ ” They started the Fashion for All Foundation with the mission statement to ­promote “­diversity, equity, and inclusion in the fashion and art industry through education and empowerment.” This includes helping demystify how the business works and ­providing accessibility to showrooms, talks with industry leaders, ­visits to retail venues, and access to Richmond’s ­archive of ­designer clothing and his library.

By 2018, the last roommate had moved out and Richmond decided he’d go it alone. Plus the FFA needed a location for work and to hold events in; the loft was perfect.

“It was a very grassroots situation,” Stoudemire says of starting FFA. “Just cold-emailing schools.

I made sure to cast the net wide, so beyond Parsons, Pratt, FIT, and the New School, we went to Kingsborough Community College and Maxwell High School in East New York. I emailed guidance counselors and did a lot of guerrilla marketing.” Since founding FFA, Stoudemire and Richmond have developed partnerships with Ralph Lauren, the CFDA, LVMH, and Limitless La Vie, among others. Every summer, the loft hosts the eight-week
Ann Lowe Summer Intensive Fellowship program for students and fashion enthusiasts ages 16 to 39 to shed light on the business (since the pandemic, it’s expanded to international students, who can Zoom in). FFA also offers the Bridge to Basel ­Competition, which immerses a smaller group of minority students in high-end fashion-­marketing and networking activities at Art Basel Miami Beach.

One of the former bedrooms is home to Richmond’s archive of vintage clothing. It ­includes pieces from such designers as Ralph Lauren, Yves Saint Laurent, Issey Miyake, ­Chanel, Willi Smith, Vivienne Westwood, Erik Honesty, and Dapper Dan as well as textiles from around the world. There is also a fashion library in the entrance hall, where a photograph of Bethann Hardison modeling Stephen Burrows’s designs greets visitors along with a Life magazine cover of Veruschka.

Richmond grew up in Tampa before moving with his family to California when he was 12. As a young man, he immersed himself in the music world in L.A. “My big break came when I had a production deal with Dr. Dre at Interscope Records in the ’90s.” He also worked in A&R with Rawkus Records.

He was interested in fashion from an early age and vividly recalls visits to the Ralph ­Lauren store in Tampa. His older brother was “obsessed with the whole prep thing,” he says. “I immediately understood the storytelling.” His paychecks from the music industry went to buying records and art and clothing. His passion for collecting grew when he moved in 2001 to New York, where he frequented vintage stores. He wanted to be a dealer-collector. “I used to buy from Paula ­Rubenstein” — the well-known art, ­textiles, and antiques dealer. “I wanted to figure out how things worked.” With FFA, he’s helping others do the same.

The Kitchen: The safe against one wall is a remnant of the days when the floor was part of an industrial office. “It will never leave here,” Richmond says, as it is too heavy to move. Photo: Annie Schlechter

The Black Room: Richmond has devoted what he calls “the Black Room” to Black historical portraits from the 1870s and Black history books, along with a Charlotte Perriand chaise for Cassina from the 1960s. The wood Steltman chair follows the style of Gerrit Rietveld. The Dagari spirit figure is from Burkina Faso. Photo: Annie Schlechter

The Library: Richmond’s collection of books on the history of fashion and art is displayed in the entrance hall, where part of a piano has been cohabitating since he moved in. The wood for the shelves was recycled from a store Richmond worked on that closed during the pandemic. Photo: Annie Schlechter

The Central Room: The Milo Baughman sofa was found in a thrift shop; the Charlotte Perriand chaise and the William Katavolos chairs were bought at auction. The green leather bench is by Harvey Probber. The sculpture by the windows is by Terry Adkins. The painting on the right wall is by Richmond. Photo: Annie Schlechter

The Archive: Stoudemire and Richmond in the room that houses his collection of vintage fashion, ranging from Willi Smith to Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren to Dapper Dan, as well as many denim pieces. Photo: Annie Schlechter