Beverly Johnson

About Beverly Johnson

Family

“For generations in this country, beauty was traditionally represented by three very distinct ideals in virtually all media: blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin...My cover shattered that notion forever….Women of color could boldly say to the world, ‘Hey, look at me! I’m here and I have value and I am beautiful.'”
— On becoming the first Black model on the cover of Vogue magazine in “Exclusive: Vogue Superstar Beverly Johnson Shares Her Thoughts on Race, Bill Cosby and Golf ” in Parade (2015 Sep 29)
“I believe that every culture contributes to fashion. But, I do remember Polly Mellen telling me, 'You know where we got hot pants from? We used to go up to Harlem and we would just look at what all the community people were wearing.'”
— On how African Americans influenced fashion in “41 Years Later, Beverly Johnson Reflects On Being Vogue's First Black Cover Model” in HuffPost (2015 Sep 9)
“At my moment, there was always a token black person. And in the ’70s I became that token black person. It brings out the worst in people when they think there’s only one spot, where for everyone else there are lots of spots.”
— On her past rivalry with Iman in “10 Questions With Beverly Johnson” in Time magazine (2015 Aug 20)

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.