Beverly Johnson

Beverly Johnson (born October 13, 1952) is an American model, actress, singer, and businesswoman.

Beverly Johnson in 2004

Quotes

• 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 tell them the funny stories of the models trying to knock me off of the runway. They are laughing and giggling. I get them. Then we do a fashion show. I get them walking and strutting, and we have fun. Not only is it a fashion show, but we also talk about who they are and what they wish for. I’ll ask an 11-year-old girl to give me one of three wishes, and she’ll say, “That my mother believes me.” Heartbreaking. I would imagine it’s stemmed from some of the altercations in my life with abuse. I always tell them that I get more out of this than they do.
  • On working with rape victims at the Barbara Sinatra Center for Abused Children in “Beverly Johnson: ‘Always a Supermodel’ [INTERVIEW”] in Ebony magazine (2019 Sep 25)

• 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)