PAHOKEE, FL. — A Florida teenager wore a dress featuring pictures of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, and others to her high school prom.
“When someone loses a mother, father or child in unnecessary circumstances, it should not be overlooked but addressed,” 17-year-old Milan Bolden-Morris told CNN after she wore the dress to the Pahokee High School prom on Friday.
The dress was designed by Florida-based designer Terrence Torrence.
The dress features pictures of 15 African-Americans who were killed in police-involved shootings, he said.
“With all the killings that was going on, it just hit me one day: you should put that into a dress,” Torrence told CNN.
“I wanted to paint a picture and put a story out there through my fashion, and I wanted to show we could spread out message with not just posters and fliers but also with garments,” he added.
Milan Bolden-Morris asked Torrence to design her prom dress after he designed her cousin’s wedding dress.
“Yes I’m black. Yes I’m 17. Yes GOD is using me to convey a message that’s bigger than me,” Bolden-Morris wrote on Instagram.
Torrence said he is overwhelmed by the response to his design, saying it has been mostly positive.