Barbara Summers | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | November 2014 (aged 70) |
Education | University of Pennsylvania; Yale University; University of Paris at the Sorbonne |
Occupation(s) | Writer, educator, fashion model |
Spouse | Marc Albert |
Children | Kimson Albert |
Barbara Summers (September 6, 1944 – November 2014) [1] [2] [3] was an American writer and educator who had also had a long and successful career as a fashion model, working for 17 years with Ford Models, one of America's top agencies. [4] [5] Her 1998 book, Skin Deep – the story of Black models in America and abroad – is a definitive work on black women in the modeling industry. [6] for which she spent more than a decade interviewing fashion professionals on three continents to record their experiences. [4]
Barbara Gene Summers was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Don and Lucy Summers, [7] the second of her parents' five children. [8] In her own words: "My wonderful, hard-working father used to call me Daughter #2. He and my mother had 4 girls before their one and only son arrived." [9] She grew up in Hartford, Connecticut, where her family moved in 1949. [8] She graduated from Weaver High School in 1963 [8] and then went to the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a B.A. degree. She subsequently did graduate studies at Yale University and then the University of Paris at the Sorbonne, [1] where she "promptly became a grad school dropout and a lifelong Francophile". [9] After living in Paris, she moved to Puerto Rico and Haiti, staying there for several years [8] with her husband Marc Albert and their son. [6] [10] Back in New York City, she began her career as a model while working as a college instructor, and she latterly returned to academia, teaching at Hostos Community College in the Bronx. [3] [8]
As a writer and editor, she published works including I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America (1989), Nouvelle Soul: Short Stories (1992), The Price You Pay (a novel set in the world of modeling, [11] 1993), Skin Deep: Inside the World of Black Fashion Models (1998), Black and Beautiful: How Women of Color Changed the Fashion Industry (2001), and Open the Unusual Door: True-Life Stories of Challenge, Adventure, and Success by Black Americans (2005). Her most notable writing is her 1998 book Skin Deep, which explores the role of African-American models within the fashion industry and the emergence of black designers, and "presents a fascinating portrait of black supermodels", [1] [12] including profiles of Dorothea Towles, Beverly Johnson, Iman, Barbara Cheeseborough, and others. The book was described in The Crisis as "an amazingly comprehensive history ... an inspiring read and a delight to own." [13]
Summers wrote of herself: "In the surprising adventure that is my life, I have been a Ford fashion model, a world traveler, a teacher, a writer and editor, a lover, wife, and mother, a sister to several, a good friend to many. I define myself as an artist. Artists are charged with the special responsibility not just to speak truth but to sing it. I believe: *We are all related - literally. *While politicians, terrorists, and maniacs of power strive mightily to prove otherwise, war is not the answer. Love is." [9]
She died unexpectedly in 2014 at the age of 70. [8]
Barbara Summers' son is the animator/producer Kimson Albert. [6] She was also survived by her sisters, Lucy Summers and Dona Carter, and brother Don Summers, her elder sister Sandy Head having predeceased her. [8]
A supermodel is a highly paid fashion model who has a worldwide reputation and background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became popular in the 1990s. Supermodels usually work for prominent fashion designers and clothing brands. They may have multimillion-dollar contracts, endorsements, and campaigns. Supermodels have branded themselves as household names and worldwide recognition is associated with their modeling careers. They have been on the covers of leading fashion magazines. Claudia Schiffer stated in 2007 that, "In order to become a supermodel one must be on all the covers all over the world at the same time so that people can recognise the girls."
Vanity Fair is an American monthly magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast in the United States.
Harper's Bazaar is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly Harper's Bazar. Harper's Bazaar is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the style resource for "women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture". Since its debut in 1867, as the U.S.'s first fashion magazine, its pages have been home to talent such as the founding editor, author and translator Mary Louise Booth, as well as numerous fashion editors, photographers, illustrators and writers. Harper's Bazaar targets an audience of professional women ranging from their twenties to sixties, who are interested in culture, travel, and luxury experiences.
Madame X or Portrait of Madame X is a portrait painting by John Singer Sargent of a young socialite, Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, wife of the French banker Pierre Gautreau. Madame X was painted not as a commission, but at the request of Sargent. It is a study in opposition. Sargent shows a woman posing in a black satin dress with jeweled straps, a dress that reveals and hides at the same time. The portrait is characterized by the pale flesh tone of the subject contrasted against a dark-colored dress and background.
Mademoiselle was a women's magazine first published in 1935 by Street & Smith and later acquired by Condé Nast Publications.
Veronica Webb is an American model, actress, writer, and television personality. The first African-American to have a major cosmetics contract, Webb has appeared on covers of Vogue, Essence and Elle magazines and on the runway for Victoria's Secret and Chanel.
Tatjana Patitz was a German fashion model. She achieved international prominence in the 1980s and 1990s representing fashion designers on runways and in magazines such as Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and Vogue. She was one of the big five supermodels who appeared in the 1990 music video "Freedom! '90" by George Michael, and she was associated with the editorial, advertising, and fine-art works of photographers Herb Ritts and Peter Lindbergh.
Beverly Ann Johnson is an American model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. Johnson rose to fame when she became the first Black model to appear on the cover of American Vogue in August 1974, after Donyale Luna was the first Black model to appear on the cover of British Vogue in 1966. In 2012, Johnson was the star of the reality series Beverly's Full House that aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). In 2008, The New York Times named Johnson one of the 20th century's most influential people in fashion.
Black is beautiful is a cultural movement that was started in the United States in the 1960s by African Americans. It later spread beyond the United States, most prominently in the writings of the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko in South Africa. Black is beautiful got its roots from the Négritude movement of the 1930s. Negritude argued for the importance of a Pan-African racial identity among people of African descent worldwide.
Peggy Ann Freeman, known professionally as Donyale Luna, was an American model and actress who gained popularity in Western Europe during the late 1960s. Generally cited as "the first Black supermodel", Luna was the first African-American model to appear on the cover of the British edition of Vogue, in March 1966.
Dorothea Towles Church was the first successful black fashion model in Paris.
Jackie Ormes was an American cartoonist. She is known as the first African-American woman cartoonist and creator of the Torchy Brown comic strip and the Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger panel.
Kimora Lee Simmons is an American businesswoman, fashion designer, television personality and former fashion model. As a teenager, she was signed with Chanel, where she became a model. Simmons has walked the runway for fashion houses such as Fendi and Valentino and appeared on the covers of Vogue and Elle. She launched the global lifestyle brand Baby Phat in 1999. In 2007, she ventured into reality television alongside her family, starring in Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane.
Barbara Chase-Riboud is an American visual artist and sculptor, novelist, and poet.
British Vogue is a British fashion magazine based in London and first published in 1916. It is the British edition of the American magazine Vogue and is owned and distributed by Condé Nast. Currently edited by Edward Enninful, British Vogue is said to link fashion to high society and class, teaching its readers how to 'assume a distinctively chic and modern appearance'.
Jourdan Sherise Dunn is a British model. She was discovered in Hammersmith Primark in 2006 and signed to The Squad Management in London. She began appearing on international runways in early 2007. In February 2008, she was the first black model to walk a Prada runway in over a decade.
Emma Gelders Sterne was an American writer of children's books, with a historical and literary focus. Born in Alabama, she became involved in liberal causes which included women's suffrage and racial equality, issues she incorporated into some of her writing.
Susan L. Taylor is an American editor, writer, and journalist. She served as editor-in-chief of Essence from 1981 through 2000. In 1994, American Libraries referred to Taylor as "the most influential black woman in journalism today".
Emily Miles (1910-1999) was an African American fashion designer and entrepreneur. She was considered Newark, New Jersey's "first lady of fashion" and "the grand dame of black style in Newark". In 1998 she was inducted into the New Jersey Women's Hall of Fame and the Chicago Fashion Hall of Fame. Emily Miles was a board member of the Harlem Fashion Institute under its founder Lois K. Alexander. She was an active member of The National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers (NAFAD). On September 17, 2023, the City of Newark presented Newark's Fashion Forward and Unity Week and paid tribute to the Iconic Emily Miles at a Fashion Gala held at The Newark Museum of Art in downtown Newark.