The name “Milan” was an idea that originated from the late Eric Christian Bazaar who was a well known commentator. Originally he was a Khan but he wanted to start another house comprised of class and sophistication straying away from what the Khans of yesterday represented in DC so he came up with MILAN because it rhymed with KHAN also because Milan is one of the fashion capitals in the world. Eric was always known for rhyming hence the reason he is known as one of Ballrooms Greatest Commentators to date if not the greatest. He tried to open the house in DC back in 1988 but he never walked a ball as a Milan to officially debut the house in Ballroom.
It wasn’t until 1989 when the House of Milan officially debuted at a ball given by Pepper Labeija at Traxx. So although the House’s name was an idea in 1988, the House of Milan did not officially debut into ballroom until 1989 and because of that, our official debut of the House of Milan is in 1989.
According to the Diamond Pioneer Icon Kevin Omni, my Father Roger and Mother Terry are considered by Ballroom to be the Founding and Original parents of the House of Milan when the house skyrocketed in Ballroom after they advised Kevin that they were leaving the house of Omni to start Milan. Again, that is when the House of Milan hit ballroom with a huge bang! Melsun is the eldest Royal member of the House followed by Jamal.
The rebirth of Milan happened in 1993/94 when rocksockers such as Dwayne (Face), Eugene, lil Eric, Ronald Lamay, Venessa, Duane, Floyd, Jamal, Stanley, Onjanee, Christian (rip), Cleto, Shorty/Jay, Sean, Gee, Toby and Tony McCoogle joined the House. When we came it was another ballroom uproar.
After that successful migration Dawan came on board and the Atlanta Chapter was born in the mid-late 90s bringing in rocksockers such as Armani, Brandon, Darnell, Junior, Jamal (dark & lovely), Marcus, Joel and more. Since then the house of Milan has expanded our Dynasty regions and memberships throughout America as well as internationally.
We are the 1st HOUSE to win $10,000 at a ball which was the Candyland Ball in New Jersey in 2007.
Kai Milan is the 1st All American Runway Icon in ballroom history.
Jamal and Dawan Milan are the top two reigning Iconic Kings of Pop Dip & Spin the Oldway in ballroom history. Jamal was hired as a Vogue Dance Teacher for the television show "Pose" for seasons 1, 2 and 3 on the FX network. Both men were featured on several episodes of the show as voguer dancers.
The reason why the House of Milan was looked at with such envy and high standards in Ballroom history was because we have dominated many categories in the areas of Fashion, Face, Performance, Runway and Realness. In addition;
1. Our members such as Eric Archibald Milan was the first stylists to ever work with many mainstream music artists like Sean Puffy Combs and more embedding the Milan ballroom fashion sense within the music industry. He is well respected in the fashion industry to this day. Overall, Milan is an iconic fashion ballroom house!
2. When we walked a ball we usually won even though many times they tried to shade us. If we didn’t win, we made it to the last battle or we made the crowd go up from the moment that we made while on the runway.
3. Once we arrived at the ball, we stayed at our house table. We did not socialize with the other folks at balls while the ball was in motion. We were focused! When we came to a ball, we stayed as a unit and cheered for each other.
4. We all had attitude! From the moment we stepped into the ball it was like lights, camera, action for us as the mentality was that we were a Diva/Rockstar House. This was Roger’s mentality. We were FAB and we owned it because we were Milans. Some people in ballroom used to say that we all had this “can’t sit with us attitude” simply because of our confidence while we were at balls and while we were on the runway.
I hope that you’ve learned a lot about the House of Milan’s history.
Jamal Milan - Overseer of the Royal House of Milan
I ❤️〽️ILAN