Pioneering model Helen Williams, hands down, the most photographed Black model of the 1950s and 1960s, in a 1960s Kodak advertisement.
Modeling pioneer Ophelia DeVore (right) with clients and friends (l-r) Joan Murry, Trudy Haynes, the Philadelphia news legend, actress and writer Ellen Holly and the great model Helen Williams. Photo via opheliadevore.com.
Whitney Houston in a 1980s Max Factor ad.
Whitney Houston on the November 1981 cover of Seventeen magazine.
(via dreamhampton1)
Norma Jean Darden in a 1967 Simplicity sewing pattern ad.
Fashion Shows Are Big Business for Models Like Cordie King - Jet Magazine, April 3, 1952 on Flickr.
love, Love, LOVE Cordie King. #QuintessentialVintageBlackGlamour
Darnella Thomas in one of her groundbreaking ads from the legendary Charlie fragrance campaign in the 1970s.
From Black and Beautiful: How Women of Color Changed the Fashion Industry by former Ford model Barbara Summers
Although Darnella shot at least four ads for the Charlie campaign, she was not signed to a contract. “Every time I did a shoot for them I would get paid whatever the day rate was; it was never a contract. A contract would have entailed them giving me the television commercials, which is what I really wanted. I know for a for a fact that the reason I did the second, third, and fourth ads was because they got a lot of letters about me. I wouldn’t have continued to do them if they weren’t successful. It was interesting, too, that I didn’t see some of the ads. When you photographed, you shot two or three ads. I don’t know how many they used, or where. The ads ran in some parts of Africa and Latin America, but they didn’t tell me that. I wasn’t supposed to know obviously. Who thought that far? I was only looking for Essence, you know? But they used my ad in Vogue and Glamour also.
(Source: vintageblackglamour)
Pioneering model Helen Williams in a Bulova watch ad from 1959.
Pioneering model and businesswoman Ophelia DeVore in the 1940s.
Sara Lou Harris, one of the first Black models to appear in advertisements, in the 1950s.
Model Carole La Brie in Vogue Italia, 1971.
(Source: vintageblackglamour)
Naomi Sims on the August 1973 cover of Cosmopolitan.
