History of Fashion

The September issue of Ebony magazine is highlighting 50 years of fashion, with features on the Ebony Fashion Fair and the history of Blacks in fashion that spans over five decades. It was an excellent read and I learned a lot.

One of the reasons I picked up the magazine is because of the front cover. Supermodels Tyra Banks, Iman, Kimora Lee Simmons and Alek Wek graced the cover, which is pretty much a rarity these days. Rock stars and actors have pretty much replaced the supermodel so it is treat to see that the veterans are still in the game.

Kimora Lee Simmons spoke about how supermodels of yesterday have to keep up by becoming more of a brand. She is the mind behind Baby Phat, KLS Collection, her own perfume line and a wealth of other ventures. Tyra Banks has become a media giant, with her successful "America's Next Top Model," now in its eighth year, and is becoming more of a TV icon with her own talk show. Iman's beauty line has put her at the top of her game as she set the bar for supermodels becoming businesswomen and Alek Wek has become more of a political icon with her new book that details her harrowing journey of escaping the genocide in her native Sudan and being discovered.

One of the examples that the supermodel has been bumped off of fashion publications is Beyonce's Sports Illustrated cover. Not only did Tyra make history of being the first Black supermodel to grace the sports magazine years back, but Beyonce made history as being a major entertainer to grace the cover, showing that the tide has changed.

I have much more respect for Ebony's Fashion Fair Eunice Johnson who commanded the world's designers pay attention to her and Blacks in fashion. In fact, I am planning to attend the Fashion Fair this year, to see the same fashions that hit the runways of Milan, New York and Paris.

It will be interesting to see what the face of fashion will look like in 50 more years.

Long live fashion.