The beauty of a Black woman is so much more beautiful.
The Black body—there’s something finished, perfect, about it... She is
like a sculpture... a shape that you embellish.”
— YVES SAINT LAURENT, 1970FRENCH CONNECTION
In October 1970, ESSENCE turned the streets of Paris, which we then called “the
fashion mecca,” into a runway filled with melanated models who not only elevated how
we saw ourselves but staked our claim as global citizens ready to take on the world
A WORD.
ES
SE
NCE (^) A
RC
HI
VE
S
ESSENCE.COM I ESSENCE.COM I 168168 I I SEPTEMBER 2019SEPTEMBER 2019