Ep. 145: Donyale Luna, the first black supermodel

This episode is going to be a timeline of the life, impact and death of Donyale Luna, the first black supermodel.

We’ll be touching on her life growing up in an abusive household in the 1940s, becoming a model during a time when racism was alive and well within the fashion industry and 1960s America as a whole, and we’ll be looking at how her rise to the top led to an inevitable drug addiction and a lonely death at the age of 33.

If you’ve been following my Tiktoks you’ll know that I’ve been talking a lot about the concept of the supermodel lately and really trying to break down what makes a supermodel. Despite labelling the concept as a ‘90s phenomenon, I think there were early signs of this phenomenon, and that Donyale was actually the first black supermodel, particularly because of how she impacted the fashion industry as a whole. That’s just one of the reasons I wanted to dedicate an episode to her; I feel like she’s often a footnote in the history books and there are so many inaccuracies in much of the content that’s created around her life.

So, this is kind of my love letter to Donyale, an audio memorial that hopefully fills in any gaps for her fans and brings her to life for a whole new audience.

This episode probably wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for the work of journalist and author Ben Arogundade. His book: Beauty’s Enigma; the story of Donyale Luna – The First Black Supermodel – was hard to track down but was one of the few solid accounts that I could rely on for real facts. I’ve left a link to it for you below if you’re interested.

I’d love to know what you think of this episode? Had you heard of Donyale before? Do you like these historical look backs at beauty? Let me know over @beautymepodcast on Instagram or Twitter and definitely look out for some Donyale-themed TikToks over at @charissekenion. I’ll also be saving a Donyale highlight on my Instagram so you can see much more of her looks and style. I’ve also written about the research process for this episode at beautymenotes.substack.com.

Thank you so much for listening – don’t forget to follow and subscribe and please do leave a 5-star review if you liked this episode! See you next time.

Links:

The Tragic Tale of Donyale Luna, by Ben Arogundade for the Telegraph: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG9658276/The-tragic-tale-of-Donyale-Luna.html

Beauty’s Enigma; the story of Donyale Luna – The First Black Supermodel: https://sites.fastspring.com/arogundade/product/donyaleluna

Supreme Models series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObeHmWsyshM&t=268s

Remembering Donyale Luna, by her daughter Dream Cazzaniga: https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/donyale-luna-model-vogue

The Luna Year, Time magazine 1966: http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,840625-1,00.html