On Saturday, America lost a legendary beauty and icon - Naomi Sims. In the world of fashion and beauty, Ms. Sims is fondly referred to as America's First Black Supermodel.
In November of 1968, Ms. Sims became the first black woman to appear on the cover of Ladies' Home Journal. It would be the first time a black woman appeared prominently in a mainstream woman's publication. Ms. Sims followed up the cover with another on Life in 1969 and Cosmopolitan in 1973. Both photos currently appear in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Model As Muse exhibition.
After creating her own buzz through hard work and ingenuity (Ms. Sims submitted her photo directly to photographers and advertising agencies because modeling agencies refused to represent her), Ms. Sims became a model quickly in demand. She modeled for top designers, such as Giorgio di Sant’Angelo, Teal Traina, Halston, and Fernando Sánchez.
In a catalog, curators Harold Koda and Kohle Yohannan described the appeal of Ms. Sims as follows: "The beautifully contoured symmetry of Sims’s face and the lithe suppleness of her body presented on the once-exclusionary pages of high-fashion journals were evidence of the wider societal movement of Black Pride and the full expression of ‘Black is Beautiful.’"
After five years in the industry, Ms. Sims decided to retire. Shortly thereafter, she founded the Naomi Sims Collection - a multimillion dollar wig and cosmetics business geared toward the look and needs of African American women. In addition to her entrepreneurial and business savvy, Ms. Sims also became a successful writer, authoring several health and beauty books, including All About Health and Beauty for the Black Woman, How to Be a Top Model and All About Success for the Black Woman.
Ms. Sims died from cancer at the age of 61. She is survived by her son Bob Findlay.
