s: Angel Lover/TFS
January, 1992
I still remember the first time I saw Beverly Peele. I was in my high school library and saw her on the cover of Seventeen magazine. I must have run to the store after school to buy that issue! I probably followed her career more than Naomi back then. She was a stunner.
Claudia Mason is definitely a face I remember from that supermodel era but I didn't pay as much attention to her. She revealed late in her career that her agency pressured her to identify as Latina or Italian instead of biracial (her father was black and her mother white.) I always thought the revelation was somewhat interesting since other fair skinned biracial models of her day (like Kara Young) seemed to work high profile gigs regularly but honestly, nothing surprises me about this industry.
Who were your favorite models by bygone eras?
4 comments:
Kara Young was a favorite, as was Louise Vyent, and a couple other Black models whose names I've forgotten, but I remember what they look like and where they were from: one was from Aruba and had brownish-blonde hair, hazel or green eyes, and a mole, the other had freckles and was from British Columbia. They both made frequent appearances in Mademoiselle and Glamour.
Also, Naomi and Tyra, whose pictures used to decorate my dorm room walls. I can't believe what ditzy egomaniac she turned out to be, or maybe she was always like that, just did a better job of hiding it.
I had no idea about Claudia Mason. That's surprising.
Kara Young, Louise Vyent, Gail O'Neill, Lara Ogilvie, Roshumba Williams, Beverly Peele. I know I missing one or two other of my faves. These were my girls back in the day. I saw Roshumba in Manhattan back in the 90's..she was stunning in person too.
Oh, I loved Gail O'Neil. Karen Alexander was another one that stood out back then.
Mounia, Billie Blair, Amalia, Rebbeca Ayoko, Pat Cleveland, Katoucha, Naomi Sims, Anna Belle, Kirat Young and a host of other models of color who graced the runway. These models gave many of us pride in just seeing that our beauty was finally being celebrated.
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