Inspiring Beauty: 50 years of the Ebony Fashion Fair is a touring retrospective in the US and currently on exhibit in Atlanta at MODA, the Museum of Design Atlanta. The Ebony Fashion Fair, full of Broadway theatrics and pure fabulousness, wasn’t just a fashion show it was a revolution that advanced the image of African American beauty in fashion everywhere.
Ebony Fashion Fair model Pat Cleveland in Valentino pink feathered gown
Eunice Johnson with model Pat Cleveland in Valentino
All Photos Courtesy of Johnson Publishing Company, LLC
Bob Mackie wedding gown in Ebony Fashion Fair Runway Show in 2001.
Eunice Johnson with models of the Ebony Fashion Fair a spectacle of glamour and broadway theatrics
Eunice Johnson was my kind of woman and a genius at raising money with a flair like no other.
Here are a few things to know about Eunice Johnson & Ebony Fashion Fair:
Before the movie Mahoghany, Before AA models took over the runways in Paris, Milan and New York the fashion show of shows was the Ebony Fashion Fair.
- Raised $55 million for African American charities through ticket sales over the course of the Ebony Fashion Fair Show.
- Eunice Johnson became one of the top American purchaser of couture by acquiring 8,000 ensembles for the Ebony Fashion Fair Shows.
- Eunice Johnson was the 1st to promote young black designers like Stephen Burrows, Patrick Kelly, Willi Smith, and B Michael often elevating their exposure and career by association. Designer B. Michael was designing hats for the TV show Dynasty when Eunice Johnson called, and it changed his life.
- She discovered model Pat Cleveland and gave her a start as an Ebony Fashion Fair model at age 14.
- Eunice Johnson came up with the name Ebony for the magazine.
- She created the Fashion Fair cosmetics line in 1973 when she realized her models were having problems finding makeup to match their skin tones.
- Eunice Walker Johnson was born April 4, 1916 in Selma, Alabama. Her father, Dr. Nathaniel Walker, practiced medicine in Selma and Her mother, Ethel McAlpine Walker, was principal of the high school and taught art and education at Selma University.
- Married John Johnson in 1941. A year later they started Ebony magazine and created the Johnson Publishing company.
- Eunice’s husband, John Johnson became the first African-American to make the Forbes 400, Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.
Eunice Johnson was intially shunned at European haute couture fashion houses who were ambivalent about seeing black women wear their garments. But her perserverance paid off. Her visionary efforts at Ebony Fashion Fair helped raise over $55 million for charitiitable causes.
Eunice Johnson with model in Valentino ensemble.
Eunice Johnson with YSL in 1972. She wanted to prove there was no barrier to our beauty and she did masterfully.
The models even made the Greyhound bus fashionable.
Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years Ebony Fashion Fair Exibition at MODA
Eunice Johnson, who was from a socially prominent family in Selma, loved fashion and style, and she used it for black self-empowerment.
John & Eunice Johnson founders of Ebony Fashion Fair & Johnson Publishing Company.
All Photos Courtesy of Johnson Publishing Company, LLC
When I was a little girl attending the Ebony Fashion Fair shows introduced me to a world of fashion fantasy and transported me around the globe wrapped in images of brocade, feathers, fur, fine fabrics and rhinestones. The Ebony Fashion Fair more than any other event in my young life gave me the privilege of dreaming of a career in fashion far beyond my front door.
I thank Mrs. Johnson for opening the eyes, and doors for so many people of color by showing us a world of fashion we had never known.
Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair is touring the US and currently on exhibit in Atlanta at MODA, the Museum of Design Atlanta. The tour began in Chicago at the Chicago History Museum and the exhibition at Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) ends in January.
Here is the Tour Schedule:
Milwaukee Art Museum, WI
January 28, 2015 – May 3, 2015
Minnesota History Center, St. Paul, MN
May 22, 2015 – August 16, 2015
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American HIstory, Detroit, MI
September 18, 2015 – January 3, 2016
Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, NY
January 30, 2016 – April 24, 2016
Bellevue Arts Museum, WA
May 20, 2016 – August 12, 2016
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, Washington, DC
February 10, 2017 – June 4, 2017
Don’t miss the opportunity to see this part of fashion history.
Until next time …