Favourite Top African and Black Models

[shandie]

Thanks for the wonderful pictures OmiFan. I just found 3 more models for my top 10(00000000).

 

[OMIFAN9]

Thanks for the wonderful pictures OmiFan. I just found 3 more models for my top 10(00000000).

Oh, cool. That's alot of models on your list.

 

[OMIFAN9]

BTW, Sepia the reason why Beverly Johnson gets the credit is b/c she was the 1st noticable blackmodel on Vogue & that it was in the US. As you can see Donyale has her hand over her face. She was instructed to do so, to hide her race. Kinda reminds me of the whole Claudia Mason thing in the mid-80 to the 90s. Time doesn't change everything. Donyale was also sketched for the Bazaar US cover(1965-1) but of course it is only a sketch not a real photo. But she did some really cool things, but died very young.

 

[electricladyland]

Femme nue, femme noire
Vétue de ta couleur qui est vie, de ta forme qui est beauté
J'ai grandi à ton ombre; la douceur de tes mains bandait mes yeux
Et voilà qu'au coeur de l'Eté et de Midi,
Je te découvre, Terre promise, du haut d'un haut col calciné
Et ta beauté me foudroie en plein coeur, comme l'éclair d'un aigle
Femme nue, femme obscure
Fruit mûr à la chair ferme, sombres extases du vin noir, bouche qui fais
lyrique ma bouche
Savane aux horizons purs, savane qui frémis aux caresses ferventes du
Vent d'Est
Tamtam sculpté, tamtam tendu qui gronde sous les doigts du vainqueur
Ta voix grave de contralto est le chant spirituel de l'Aimée

Femme noire, femme obscure
Huile que ne ride nul souffle, huile calme aux flancs de l'athlète, aux
flancs des princes du Mali
Gazelle aux attaches célestes, les perles sont étoiles sur la nuit de ta
peau.

Délices des jeux de l'Esprit, les reflets de l'or ronge ta peau qui se moire

A l'ombre de ta chevelure, s'éclaire mon angoisse aux soleils prochains

de tes yeux.

Femme nue, femme noire
Je chante ta beauté qui passe, forme que je fixe dans l'Eternel
Avant que le destin jaloux ne te réduise en cendres pour nourrir les
racines de la vie.

 

[OMIFAN9]

Okay a hint on the Glamour covergirl-Any of you watch a sitcom with a male rapper in the 90s?!

 

[OMIFAN9]

Liya scanned by me. Everytime I see this I just here 'do you remember the time'.

 

[sepia]

Wow, that's gorgeous! Thanks omi! I love Liya.

Speaking of Liya, here she is with another favorite, Iman, in the Sept. 04 issue of Essence

Here is Katoucha Niane (sp?), scanned by Georgia.

 

[sepia]

Okay a hint on the Glamour covergirl-Any of you watch a sitcom with a male rapper in the 90s?!

I cheated and googled to find her name but huh? @ this clue ... Fresh Prince? Was she an actress?

I also googled to find more pics of Donyale. Just had to see her face! from www.younggalleryphoto.com

 

[sepia]

BTW, Sepia the reason why Beverly Johnson gets the credit is b/c she was the 1st noticable blackmodel on Vogue & that it was in the US. As you can see Donyale has her hand over her face. She was instructed to do so, to hide her race. Kinda reminds me of the whole Claudia Mason thing in the mid-80 to the 90s. Time doesn't change everything. Donyale was also sketched for the Bazaar US cover(1965-1) but of course it is only a sketch not a real photo. But she did some really cool things, but died very young.

I knew that was the reason she had her hand over her face, but it's still a lovely cover. What happened with Claudia Mason? You're right, some things haven't changed. Today we still have so few Black models -- or any other nonwhites, for that matter -- who get little of the kind of exposure their white counterparts do. You can count the Black models that appear in Vogue in a year on one hand.


Thanks for all the history lessons!

 

[sepia]

Lisa Butler, from fmd1

 

[OMIFAN9]

Alright, it's Daphne Maxwell-Reid the mother the second time around(Vivian) for The Fresh Prince.

 

[sepia]

 

[violet]

I really like the looks of Louise Vyent. Just curious, but does anyone have information on her?

And thank you Urban Stylin, for providing those pictures of Anna Getaneh, as they are so few of them on the web. I do prefer her to her countrywoman, Liya Kebede but she's not nearly as well known.

Also thanks OMIFAN9, for the picture of Waris Darie. She was a lovely model too, however short-lived.

 

[OMIFAN9]

I knew if I said who she was everyone would go 'Oh yeah'. But when you find out and you look into her face like I said you can see it's a dead giveway! When I first saw the cover, once I got over how gorgeous it was, I was like she looks familiar. Than I thought about it & found out and felt so foolish that I didn't get it right away! Photo Source:me & roxburyfilmfestival

Then

Now

 

[OMIFAN9]

I also googled to find more pics of Donyale. Just had to see her face! from www.younggalleryphoto.com

Am I crazy or do I feel photographer Steven Meisel was thinking of Miss Donyale in 1994 with Miss Beverly Peele. Although I doubt Bev knew of Donyale sometimes I could see some Donyale in Bev's work.

 

[OMIFAN9]

Donyale with I think a boyfriend, who I believe is a musician(1968). He looks familiar, but I can't place him right now. Photo Source:getty

 

[OMIFAN9]

I knew that was the reason she had her hand over her face, but it's still a lovely cover. What happened with Claudia Mason? You're right, some things haven't changed. Today we still have so few Black models -- or any other nonwhites, for that matter -- who get little of the kind of exposure their white counterparts do. You can count the Black models that appear in Vogue in a year on one hand.


Thanks for all the history lessons!

Remeber I told you the powers that be(agents) told her to play her race down in the mid-80s. Passing her off as Latin or something else other than half black. Thinking it would help her career, she hit in the 90s but was practically gone by 1997. I don't see much difference in her story and the powers that be(racial times of the '60s & the photographer) telling Donyale to place her hand over her face in 1966!
But yes the cover is fierce, but many don't know it's a blackmodel. Had Donyale lived longer(died in Rome,1979) I think she would've spoken up about it. Tragic story, but what a beauty.

 

[OMIFAN9]

Runway mainstays of the mid 80s-mid 90s, although these beauties didn't always make the editorials(especially Sonia, although Veronica has lots of print work, it was nothing compared to the many shows she did) they were always on the runways. Photo Source:scanned by me

Sonia Cole(1992)

Veronica Webb(1990)

 

[OMIFAN9]

And one shouldn't speak of influential blackmodels without mentioning Helen Williams. Who was the most photographed blackmodel of her era(1950s-mid 60s). She constantly pushed for mainstream attention, not only for herself but others as well. She also showed not only that black models but especially dark & brown skinned models were beautiful and could be a success(at the time all blackmodels were light/could pass for another race), she was the 1st of her kind.

Another favorite for sentimental reasons, the beauty with the fine features, Helen Williams. Photo Source:scanned by me

 

[sepia]

Thanks for all the old photos. Helen and Sonia are pretty!

I would have never guessed that was "Aunt Vivian" on the cover of Glamour. I still had to look hard at the photo to place her, but I finally matched the freckles. Did they darken her skin for the cover? She looks much darker there than she did on TV.