Jan Ernst Matzeliger was an African-American inventor in the shoe industry. Matzeliger was born September 15, 1852, in Paramaribo, Suriname, to a father who was a Dutch engineer and a mother who was a black Surinamese slave. At the age of 10, Matzeliger began working in machine shops under his father's guidance, until leaving his hometown of Suriname to be a sailor on an East Indian merchant ship, where he later settled in Philadelphia. As a dark-skinned man, his options were limited, and[...]
Scott Barrie was best known for his sexy matte jersey dresses, which were popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Scott Barrie whose real name was Nelson Clyde Barr was born in Philadelphia in January 1946. As a kid, Barrie knew he wanted to be a designer. He started making his own clothing using his grandmother's sewing machine at the age of 10. Barrie studied Applied Arts at the Philadelphia Museum College and Art and Fashion Design at the Mayer School of Fashion where he graduated in 1965. As a wa[...]
There were other models before her, but Helen Williams was the first black model to cross over into mainstream. Helen Williams was born in East Riverton, New Jersey in 1937. With her love of fashion, she began sewing her own garments at the age of seven. At 17, Williams worked as a stylist at a New York photography studio. She was spotted on separate occasions by Lena Horne and Sammy Davis Jr, who happened to be in the studio doing press shots. They encouraged her to pursue a career in f[...]
“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[...]