Random Picture Entry: Donyale Luna

There's all this talk lately of Steven Meisel shooting an issue of Italian Vogue featuring all black models -- and of course, even more talk of "What about this minority?!" and "That's not diversity!" and etcetera and so forth. Lesson number one: don't look for signs of sophisticated sociopolitical discourse in fashion blogs. What we can hope to expect, though, is something gestural and bold, and so I'm looking forward to seeing how concepts of race get reflected and refracted through the already-distorted funhouse of mirrors that is fashion. I hope the pictures are as awesome as these of Donyale Luna, who was hailed as one of the first African-American supermodels -- and the first one to be a Vogue cover girl. Born in Detroit and rising to fame in the swinging 60s, she was also part of Warhol's Factory scene, appeared in a few of his movies, was pals with a few Rolling Stones, and canoodled with Klaus Kinski, all the while insisting loudly on the multiplicity of her racial heritage. Striking, beautiful and truly a diva, she lived fiercely and died tragically, and really, if Gia Carangi can be a legend, why not Donyale?

Posted by Kat in Random Picture Entry
Link back to this entry
+ Stumble This! | Digg This!
Contact Us
HOME

© K. Asharya, L. Barker and L. Faulds. All rights reserved. All content cannot be reproduced without prior written permission.

;