Of course, they were all Black. Even models of color in the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. were limited in the kind and amount of work they got. Pam Grier and Diahann Carroll, are other absolutely gorgeous Black actresses who were ignored by the fashion industry, but there are many others.
I think
@Urban Stylin mentionned names that were personal to her but in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and a little bit in the 90’s, as
@Phuel said, it wasn’t common for celebrities to have fashion contracts anyway.
Of course we can’t elude the racial question because it was an issue anyway in their actual field but the fashion aspect is almost separated.
If we wanna have an example of a black girl, who was an actress and very much linked to HF, I think about Grace Jones. And Miss Jones was a model first. So she was already embraced by the world of fashion which wasn’t an industry back then.
Grace Jones practically wore Alaïa in all her movie roles, she was a good Fendi customer, had great relationships with all the brands but brands back then based their marketing by being choose by actresses, not the way around. All commercials Grace Jones ever did were never fashion related.
Audrey never had a Givenchy contract. Stephane Audran, who was dressed by Karl for all her roles starting in 1973 never had a Chloe, Chanel, Fendi or Lagerfeld contract. Sofia Loren never had an Armani contract.
The world of fashion and the idea of entertainment at large was very different and separated back then. I imagine that it was even more different in the US.
And you others layers you have to take in consideration. When brands started giving beauty contracts, HF always choose actresses because of the prestige and the demography but more mainstream brands preferred singers because they talked to a younger demographic that could actually purchase the products. The other layer was that it was easier for a HF brand to control the image of an actress than a singer.
Today everything has changed because the younger demography is the actual consumer of everything.
And I also have to say that today, there are strategies and teams involved with talents who can really take opportunities and make something out of it.
I think someone like Halle Berry didn’t have a plan when she got her Oscar. Elie Saab became a household name thanks to her but Halle never nurtured the relationship. When she became the face of Versace, she didn’t nurtured the relationship either. Today there are actresses whom status is solely maintained though their connection to designers or brands.
And I’m talking about a big movie star. Actresses of series weren’t seen as A-list for a long time! And their movie careers never transcendent their tv roles. Diahann Carroll became famous worldwide with Dynasty but never had a worldwide exposure after that. Racism in Hollywood probably was the reason behind that but then it would have been difficult to reach the HF world in Europe anyway.
I saw Taraji P Henson raised the question « where was my contract? » during an interview. She didn’t have a good team/strategy.
But overall, we can’t judge the decisions of the past with the realities of today.
