Mother of modelling: how Bethann Hardison got frank about fashion’s racism – and changed the industry for ever

She starred in the Battle of Versailles show in 1973, partied at Studio 54 and became a renowned model agent. Now 80, she has always advocated for respect, recognition and equal pay for Black talent, with a passion and power that could never be ignored

When Bethann Hardison was a kid she didn’t see faces like hers in magazines. Not that she needed them to feel seen as a Black woman. “I grew up feeling very secure about who I was,” she says assuredly over a videocall from her Gramercy Park apartment in New York. “And I didn’t long for anything to look like myself.” Once she walked in the Battle of Versailles fashion show in 1973, however, she became an inspiration to a world of Black girls who felt not only seen, but beautiful too.

In the half-century since, Hardison has blazed a trail across runways around the world, opened her own highly successful modelling agency and continues to be a well-loved, well-known advocate for people of colour in the fashion industry. But that 1973 show in Paris – which pitted American and French designers against each other – remains one of the most significant moments in her legacy.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ixaYHlS