Happy Birthday to the one and only Chaka Khan!
Pat Cleveland with designer Scott Barrie after his Spring 1974 show. Grace Jones is in the background.
Scott Barrie was a Florida-born designer who was known for his sexy matte jersey dresses. He arrived in New York in 1962 after studying briefly at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art. His designs were picked up by Bloomingdale’s and Henri Bendel (who also later carried Stephen Burrows) and he opened his first showroom in 1968. In later years, he designed for companies like Krizia and a Japanese company called Kinshido. He died at age 52 in Italy in 1993.
*Photo by Pierre Schermann.
Model Bethann Hardison and designer Stephen Burrows at the opening party for Tommy, March 1975.
For those of you who may only know her for being Kadeem Hardison’s mother - Bethann Hardison has been an important force in the fashion industry for many years. She started out as a model in the 1960s and eventually started her own modeling agency, Bethann Management, where she put Tyson Beckford on the map and cultivated many other models who went on to big careers. Recently, she cast the models for the now legendary “Black Issue” of Italian Vogue.
Cartoonist Jackie Ormes (1911-1985) was a true pioneer. She worked with legendary Black American newspapers like the Chicago Defender and the Pittsburgh Courier during the 1940s and 1950s when female cartoonists were practically nonexistent. I urge you to pick up Nancy Goldstein’s wonderful book, Jackie Ormes: The First African-American Woman Cartoonist, as Ms. Ormes was truly a fascinating woman.
Alvin Ailey, the iconic dancer, choreographer and founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, in March 1955. Photograph by Carl Van Vechten.
