The Metropolitan Museum of Art has officially welcomed a piece of Jamaican fashion history into its hallowed halls, with the inclusion of the iconic Kareeba suit, designed by legendary Jamaican couturier Ivy Ralph. The late designer’s granddaughter, Ivy “Coco” Maurice, announced the news with an emotional Instagram post, calling the moment a “sacred secret” she’d kept since August 2024.
“The House of Ivy is in The Met 🇯🇲!” she wrote. “This isn’t just a win for my family—it’s a win for Jamaica.”
The Kareeba suit, conceived in the early 1970s, is a two-piece men’s outfit designed as a Caribbean alternative to the traditional European suit. It quickly became a symbol of cultural pride and political resistance. Popularized by Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley, the suit was embraced by members of the People’s National Party (PNP) as a rejection of colonial norms. Parliament even passed legislation recognizing the Kareeba as appropriate for formal and official functions.
At a time when the shirt-and-tie represented colonial conformity, the Kareeba—worn with no tie and tailored for tropical climates—embodied Caribbean identity and confidence. In his memoirs, The Politics of Change, Manley described choosing a Western suit in the Caribbean heat as “the first act of psychological surrender” to colonial trauma. The Kareeba, by contrast, was “a declaration,” Maurice wrote, “a Caribbean creation that challenged colonial standards and redefined elegance on our own terms.”
Maurice, daughter of actress Sheryl Lee Ralph and stylist to the stars, revealed that she wore a House of Ivy skirt made by her grandmother 64 years ago to view the exhibit, calling the moment “full-circle.” “I cried a river,” she shared in her post. “Tears for the island that raised me. Tears for my grandmother who left this Earth in 2018.”
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Ivy Ralph, awarded the Order of Distinction in 1999 for her contributions to fashion, designed for decades out of her Jamaican atelier, where her granddaughter spent countless hours as a child.
“I grew up in Jamaica spending my childhood in her factory, surrounded by the hum of sewing machines and the power of Black women building something timeless. The Kareeba wasn’t just fashion—it was a declaration. A Caribbean creation that challenged colonial standards and redefined elegance on our own terms. It was ours. Wi likkle, but wi Tallawah,” Maurice said.
Other Caribbean and African leaders like Errol Barrow of Barbados, Forbes Burnham of Guyana, and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania also adopted the Kareeba-style suit, further cementing its role as a pan-African, anti-colonial statement of style.
Maurice ended her announcement with a hint at what’s to come: “The new Kareebas are loading… and our story is just beginning.”
