“I thought it was right ... to try to do something to help my own people and to get more exposure. It was also a statement [to] the fashion industry, 'stop this discrimination, black is beautiful.' I am sick and tired of seeing only skinny blonde girls and not black women on the runway." Adama Paris whose real name is Adama Amanda Ndiaye was born in Kinshasa, Zaïre in 1976. Living in different parts of the world exposed her to a variety of different fashions which inspired her to create h[...]
Gordon Parks Was The First Black Freelance Photographer For Vogue read more
// // ]]> Detroit native Kevan Hall knew by the age of seven that he wanted to be a fashion designer. After graduating from Cass Technical High School where he studied fashion design and won first place as "Designer of Tomorrow". He attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. Hall's love for luxury and haute couture came about after a trip to Europe where he visited European fashion houses such as Dior and Givenchy. Upon graduation, he received the Peacoc[...]
Meet Ophelia DeVore-Mitchell Founder of The First Black Modeling Agency... Ophelia DeVore-Mitchell was one of the first African American models in the United States. She changed the face of beauty within the fashion industry. Through her modeling agency and school, she promoted the careers of some of the country’s top African American models, entertainers and television personalities. Emma Ophelia DeVore was born on August 12, 1922, in Edgefield, South Carolina. She later moved to N[...]
Fashion Fair is a subsidiary of Johnson Publishing Company which was created for women of color by Eunice W. Johnson, creator of Ebony Fashion Fair Show. Johnson took a risk that major cosmetic companies refused to take by entering the untapped market of makeup for women of color. Eunice Walker Johnson was the wife of John H. Johnson, founder of Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) in 1942. JPC is the publisher of EBONY and JET magazines. In 1956, Eunice Walker Johnson launched the Ebony Fashion[...]
Who Was The First African American Female Makeup Artist In Hollywood? "I had to file a class act suit to do this because they just wouldn't let minorities in, it was a very hard industry to break no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn’t break it" // Bernadine Anderson has paved the way for a lot of makeup artists today. She was the first black female celebrity makeup artist. After working as an apprentice for three years at Warner Brothers, she went on to work with some of Hollywo[...]
Naomi Campbell Goes In On Instagram Models, Calls Them "Instagirls" Leave it to Naomi Campbell to tell you exactly how she feels. The iconic supermodel made an appearance on The Meredith Vieira Show, where she shared her thoughts on models getting their start on Instagram. "I just feel like my generation of women, like Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Claudia, we had to earn our stripes and take our stepping-stones to get to where we have gotten, to accomplish what we[...]
I received one complimentary full size 5 oz. spray bottle of evian® Facial Spray (retails at $19.50) to try out from Brand Backer. When I think of the name evian I automatically think of the drinking water. My first thought was, this is just a bottle of spray water and I was kind of hesitant to spray it on my face thinking it was going to be a cold mist of water. After reading the back of the bottle I got a better understanding of what it actually is. The only ingredient is water nitrogen comp[...]
Martell Iconic Blueprints Honors Detroit’s Emerging Icon... Tuesday night I had the opportunity to attend an event hosted by entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and philanthropist Robert Hill Sr and Martell. Honoring one of Detroit’s emerging Icons Tommey Walker, founder, and creator of the brand Detroit VS Everybody. A homegrown label, that embodies the pride and unapologetic spirit of Detroit. A little about Martell Iconic Blueprints: Martell has sought to inspire innovators and those[...]
So Friday I went to the nail salon to get a fill-in, and while I was deciding on a color I spotted something new within the OPI family. It was a bottle I’ve never seen before. The top was a shiny silver color and on the bottle, it said OPI Infinite Shine. The colors seemed a little more vibrate than the regular OPI polishes. The color I chose was a nude called Tenacious Spirit. The nail tech informed me that this particular color would be $5 dollars more because it’ll last days longer than t[...]