FIRST not LAST

L’OFFICIEL’s history was shaped by Black models whose own stories have gone largely untold. Here, their legacies in fashion and beyond live on.

Before there was Adut Akech, Naomi Smalls, Naomi Campbell, or even Grace Jones, several models of color laid the important groundwork, breaking through longstanding racial barriers. Towards the end of the 1960s, cultural tides were turning, and more diverse faces began taking their rightful places in popular media. Although iconic performer Josephine Baker was recognized for her popularity in France throughout many early issues of L’OFFICIEL, it was not until 1969, when Sandi Collins began her work with the magazine, that Black models became a consistent fixture in editorials. Yet despite her watershed work with the magazine, Collins’ name—and those of other pioneering models of color—has been left out of much of fashion’s history.

In June 1970, Collins would make history as the first nonwhite cover model for L’OFFICIEL. Dressed in swimwear by Courrèges, Collins was photographed by Roland Bianchini, a frequent L’OFFICIEL contributor, alongside an uncredited white model. Collins’ cover would come off the heels of an American outcry over Black model Donyale Luna’s 1966 Harper’s Bazaar feature photographed by David Bailey, which resulted in Southern advertisers pulling their placements, and an ultimate ban on Luna ever appearing in the magazine again. This permanent ban on the model, which was enacted in reaction to racist disapproval by Bazaar owner William Randolph Hearst, was never lifted, lasting until her untimely death in 1979. While Hearst’s action specifically targeted Luna’s career, the act was exemplary of the obstacles preventing diverse talent from covering magazines or walking runways stateside. While it suddenly had become possible to become a Black fashion model, racism still stood firmly in the way of true success.

Collins still took great strides in becoming one of the first Black couture models, and the first consistent non-white model in L’OFFICIEL’s editorial spreads. Paco Rabanne would select Collins as a frequent collaborator, forever tying her to the booming mod fashion trends of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Thanks to her talents in bringing these fresh designs to life, Collins became synonymous with the fashion of the time and an inarguable staple on the runway and in editorial photography.