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How This Iconic Black Model Changed the Fashion Industry

Bethann Hardison broke barriers in the 1970s by appearing in top fashion magazines. Her new documentary shows how she championed diversity for a new generation of Black models.

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.

Despite being a trailblazer in the fashion industry, Bethann Hardison didn’t think she had a story to tell.

However, she tells The New Abnormal co-host Danielle Moodie that when she watched the footage from her new documentary Invisible Beauty it dawned on her how influential she had been as a model and an activist.

“I never thought I had a story. I mean, I know what I’ve done, but I didn’t think it was storytelling,” she says. “Once I saw all that put together, yes, I did believe. And then I think once we were in Sundance and that very first premiere night, it became all 100 percent real.”

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Hardison, who appeared in Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue in the 1970s before forming Bethann Management Agency in 1984 and the Black Girls Coalition in 1988, says the reason she moved into activism was to lift up the models of color who were making their mark in the fashion industry and forcing people to notice them.

“The reason to start the Black Girls Coalition was to celebrate the girls and the fact that they all were working. Nobody had done that before. We never saw that many girls,” she says.

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.

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