The temptation to spend the rest of this month worshipping at the altar of the great TV god is overwhelming.
Given the bone-chilling, face-freezing, hat-hair-producing, chilblain-inducing, wanna-move-to-Hawaii-wishing, good-mood-killing subzero temperatures of the last week, hibernation is a strategy I heartily endorse.
And might I suggest something for you to think about while holed up? February, Black History Month, is an excellent time to remember the unsung African-American fashion heroes who have enriched all our lives.
So as you toss another log on the fire, let’s not forget Madame C.J. Walker, who tossed a comb into the fire, thus inventing the hotcomb and becoming the nation’s first black millionaire.
And how about Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, a Virginia slave whose wizardry with the sewing needle earned her a designing gig in Lincoln’s White House? And Mr. Cordovall, the preeminent tailor in 1850s New Orleans. And Rosa Parks, seamstress and mama of the civil rights movement.
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Then there’s Dorothea Towles, the first black professional model to win over Paris in the ’50s. What about model/cosmetics entrepreneur Naomi Sims, who broke fashion’s Jim Crow barrier, appearing on the covers of Ladies Home Journal and Life in the ’60s?
And Beverly Johnson, the first black to grace the cover of Vogue, in ’74? Remember Iman? And Bethann Hardison, the ’70s runway model who now runs her own agency, Bethann Management?
And then there’s Essence, the first magazine to celebrate black womanhood in all its guises. Essence also celebrated the designing talents of Stephen Burrows, the first African-American designer to grab the brass ring: a perfume license for a frisky little scent dubbed “Stephen B.” And let’s not forget his contemporaries, Jon Haggins and Scott Barrie.
Or the late Willi Smith, who made fashion fun–and affordable. Or the witty Patrick Kelly, who infused Paris fashion with some serious Mississippi flava’? Kelly was so cool, the Chambre Syndicale, France’s designer fraternity, asked him to be the first American to join its ranks. Both left us way too soon.
In the ’90s, we still need pioneers. Last month, Tyra Banks became the first black model to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue–though she posed with a blond. Six of the country’s top newspapers have hired African-American fashion editors/reporters. Patrick Robinson now designs for Anne Klein. Byron Lars and Tracy Reese have their own lines, as do Anthony Mark Hankins, Epperson and Lola Faturoti.
The list is far from complete. But hey, I feel warmer already.