Hello all,
If you have bee following my blog, you will know that I do research on black people who have paved the way for the fashion industry. Some we knew, and some that history has forgotten for some strange reason (we know why). Since it’s Black History Month, I want to talk about a supermodel who has broken many barriers, but for some reason, she’s hardly been talked about until sometime last year when Max (formerly known as HBO Max) released a documentary about her titled, “Donyale Luna: Supermodel.”
Background story about Donyale Luna, she was born Peggy Ann Freeman, and she’s originally from Detroit, but created her own world to escape her home life. Her parents were very abusive towards each other, as well as divorced and married each other four times. She had two sisters, Lillian and Josephine.
She left Detroit right after graduating high school and went to NYC. Afterwards she went to London, and then to Rome. Here are a list of her accomplishments
She was illustrated on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar in January 1965
She was the first black model on the cover of British Vogue in March 1966
She was a muse for Salvador Dali
She appeared in many Andy Warhol movies
She acted in several movies in Rome
She modeled for Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, and Paco Rabanne
She was a Covergirl on eleven different magazines during the years 1965-1975
She moved to Rome, Italy and married Luigi Cazzangia. Together, they had a daughter, Dream, who was born in 1978.
Sadly, Donyale Luna died in 1979 from an accidental drug overdose. She left behind her husband, 18 month old daughter, and her amazing legacy.
If you want to know more about Donyale Luna, here are some links:
https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/Forgotten-Pioneer-Super-model-Donyale-Luna
https://www.thecut.com/2013/07/first-black-supermodel-whom-history-forgot.html
https://www.flarestreet.com/blogs/flarestreetblog/walking-on-the-moon-with-donyale-luna
https://doriaadouke.com/donyale-luna-first-black-model-vogue-magazine-cover/
In addition to these links, you can also watch the documentary about her life on Max. Now, I’m going to leave you all with my favorite image of Donyale Luna
Until Next Time!!!