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Posts tagged as “Donyale Luna”

Documentary “Donayle Luna: Super Model” on 1st Black Supermodel Debuts September 13 on HBO

Documentary “Donayle Luna: Super Model” on 1st Black Supermodel Debuts September 13 on HBO

By goodblacknews on September 1, 2023

“Donayle Luna was the first Black woman to be on the cover of Vogue. Why don’t we know more about her?”

This pointed question from the recently released trailer for Donyale Luna: Super Model will hopefully no longer be relevant after the feature-length documentary about Luna’s life and career debuts on HBO September 13.

Born Peggy Anne Freeman in Detroit, Donyale Luna went on to revolutionize the fashion industry in the 1960s and 1970s, becoming the muse to some of the foremost photographers of the 20th century until her untimely death at the age of 33 in 1979.

Though Luna was one of the first Black models who graced the covers of both Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar in Europe, today, most people have never heard of her.

Directed by Nailah Jefferson, produced by Melissa Kramer, Isoul H. Harris, Melanie Sharee and executive produced by Jonathan Chinn, Simon Chinn, Jeff Friday, Dream Cazzaniga, participants in the doc include Luna’s daughter, Dream Cazzaniga, husband, Luigi Cazzaniga, supermodels Beverly Johnson and Pat Cleveland; Vogue global editor-at-large Hamish Bowles; photographers David Bailey, David McCabe, and Gideon Lewin; and many more.

GBN highlighted Luna last February in our post GBN’s Daily Drop: Donyale Luna – the First Black Supermodel (LISTEN) based on our entry about her in the Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022.

We are looking forward to learning even more about this mostly unsung trailblazer in the global fashion industry.

GBN’s Daily Drop: Donyale Luna – the First Black Supermodel (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop: Donyale Luna – the First Black Supermodel (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 18, 2022

[Photo: Woodgate/Associated Newspapers/Rex USA]

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop Podcast is based on the Friday, February 18 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 about Donyale Luna, who emerged in the 1960s as the first Black supermodel:

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Friday, February 18th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Beverly Johnson made waves in 1974 as the first African American model to appear on the cover of American Vogue, and almost 50 years later she is still at it, having just walked in two shows at this year’s New York Fashion Week.

But did you know that the first African American model to grace any Vogue cover ever did so eight years before Beverly? In 1966, Donyale Luna graced the March cover of British Vogue. A Detroit native, Luna is widely considered to be the world’s first Black supermodel and served as one of the inspirations for the 1975 Diana Ross film Mahogany.

Luna’s career was unfortunately short-lived as she passed in 1979 at the age of 32, but her legacy lives on. To learn more about Luna and to see photos from her modeling days, check out the links provided in today’s show notes and also in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

Source links:

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing, and available at workman.com, Amazon,Bookshop and other online retailers. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.