A Natural Woman

Melissa at the gym

This post is the first in a series on love affairs between Black women and their natural hair.  Meet Melissa, one of my workout buddies.

Melissa first went natural right after graduating from college in 1986.  “People thought I was disappointed about life after college, but I just didn’t do hair.”  Her sorority sisters kept her hair looking sharp while she was an undergrad. One made her hair swing with chemical relaxers, another was a wizard with scissors, a blow dryer and curling irons. 

When Melissa returned to her southern home town after college her mother said, “She done went to the white people’s school and lost her mind.”  Mom added, “We don’t want to look at your nappy head, you know white people don’t want to look at it either!”  Eventually she caved in to family pressure and straightened her hair.  Melissa then landed a job at a hotel and returned to chemical relaxers.  I’d bet that her co-workers and customers relaxed because she didn’t look like a revolutionary waiting to be televised.

She’s locking her hair now, and describes it is an individual journey with heaps of self-love. It’s a warm relationship between a woman, her hair, and her self-image.  As Melissa will tell you, “You can’t get away from yourself.” 

She admires Nina Simone and Maya Angelou with their striking African features and stunning natural style.  She talks about seeing black as a color of power, and how we need to reorient ourselves to that idea.  (Just think about judges wearing black robes.)  Black is also the color of elegance. (Just think of the LBD.)

Melissa wraps up our conversation about hair by saying, “Originally I cut it because I didn’t want to do anything [to it] but now thirty years later I have to decide what to do with it!”  Sounds like a fabulous challenge!

Skipping the salon also has a nice wallet fattening quality. She laughs and says, “I keep that $110 in my pocket.”

Supreme Beings

Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Cindy Birdsong

Did you ever belt out “You Keep Me Hanging On” or “Love Child” in the shower?  Maybe you shouted your way through “Stop! In The Name of Love” on a drunken dare at a Karaoke joint?  If you can answer yes to either question and/or you love fashion, you had to see “Come See About Me,” a small but meaty exhibit of The Supremes gowns collected by Mary Wilson. 

The Supremes (nee The Primettes) were the top selling group at Motown in the 1960s.  The six divas (Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, later Cindy Birdsong, Jean Terrell, and Scherrie Payne) offered the world style and glamour on a magnitude never before seen in popular music. 

In their early days, Ms. Ross, Ms. Ballard, and Ms. Wilson made it a point to choose dresses that were a step up from what the average shopper could buy in the local department stores.  Their popularity rose during the 1960s and their daytime style evolved from modest sweaters and pencil skirts to crocheted mini skirts and thigh-high boots.  Evening/stage wear moved from sleek, elegant gowns to beaded mini dresses and bell-bottomed jumpsuits.  Early Supremes style also featured black wigs teased to a towering six inches.  Maybelline was the fourth Supreme.  Thick winged eyeliner and cheek-dusting lashes added to the girls’ allure and was as important as vocal harmony.

Their early style influences included Sophia Loren, Ruth Brown, Dakota Staton, and Jean Harlow.  Their costumes sprang from the minds from the hottest talent of the era, including designer Michael Travis, a former apprentice of Bob Mackie, choreographer Geoffrey Holder, and Mr. Mackie himself.  The sequin trees were picked clean under their watch.  Magical hands combined yards of velvet and chiffon with barrels of glass beads to create sparkling confections that every Barbie envied.

Many of the gowns on display were worn on 1960s TV variety shows such as "The Ed Sullivan Show," "The Hollywood Palace," and "The Flip Wilson Show."  The “Butterfly Gown” was designed for the NBC-TV special "TCB" (Taking Care of Business).  Check out the floor-length beaded sheath with a cape in the pic below.


My favorite images from the exhibit include a terrific photo montage featuring Diana Ross in a fierce metallic trench coat with matching boots; a promotional poster from the 1970s of Mary Wilson, Cindy Birdsong and Jean Terrell in carefully coiffed Afros; and the “Black Diamond Trench Coat” which rode the military style trend of the late 1960s.  This traffic-stopper is made of lustrous black silk and wool with sequin and rhinestone covered buttons.

The 1970s--post Diana Ross--featured bolder Supreme styles such as a deep purple jumpsuit with street sweeper bell bottoms and a snug little bolero jacket.  Gowns featured layers of feathers or pleats that made the wearer look as if she were floating above the floor.  There were cotton candy-colored gowns with an East African motif.

The Supremes were wonderful clothes horses.  They looked exceptional at a time when the world view of black women was one of us wearing rags on our heads and cradling mops.  Their clothes were exquisitely tailored and elegant.  The girls rocked brilliant sapphire suits, sumptuous white fur stoles, and leopard pillbox hats during the day, and shimmered in pearls, satin and exquisite lace onstage.  Yep--they were divas and this exhibit proves it!

Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross

The "Butterfly" Dress

Treasures

Walking on Air

A Leaf from the Family Tree--Lucille!

Aunt Cille in the 1940s

Meet Lucille Faison, my great aunt, my grandmother’s sister and best friend.  Aunt Cille was a woman of constant style and good taste.  She was born in Winston-Salem NC, and settled in Washington DC as a young woman. 

I loved sleeping over at her apartment when I was a kid.  She always had a tin of barbeque Fritos waiting for me; her apartment was cozy and immaculate; she had a box stuffed with office supplies that I could use to explore my creativity--staplers, colored paper, pens and pencils, notebooks, and rulers.  Santa even visited me at Aunt Cille‘s!  One Christmas Eve when I was a very sleepy six-year old I thought I saw Santa leaving gifts under her pink artificial tree!  Probably one of her boyfriends wearing a red suit.

My auntie was tall (5’10”) and slim, and would have been a runway sensation in today’s world.  She was an elegant party girl who loved beautiful clothes, but couldn’t find any that fit well.  In the 1930s African-Americans weren’t permitted to try on clothing in DC department stores, so she created the wardrobe that she wanted.  She window-shopped exclusive shops, studied the structure and detail of garments she admired then went home and made them.  Her closets and armoire were stuffed with tasteful day dresses, gorgeous evening dresses, and Sunday-perfect suits. 

In her heyday she was the “hostess with the most-ess,” a popular dinner companion and dancing partner.  Her dance card was always filled, and her house parties featured riotous laughter over the card table, lots of trash talk and tales, and rockin’ good music. 

She worked as a housekeeper for decades for a wealthy family and raised their three children, but never lost her dignity and style.  Every day she dressed for work as if she was going to a high-paying office job.  Her prowess with a sewing machine inspired my Mom to get better acquainted with our Sears Kenmore sewing machine.  

Here's my favorite quote from her, “Good times don’t owe me a thing.”  I’ll drink to that!  She had the time of her life during her lifetime with no regrets.  Thanks, Aunt Cille, for modeling the graceful life.

Enjoy these pics of sassy, sensational Cille.

Aunt Cille (L) and her sister (R) and their beaus

Sunday Stylin'!

Ch-ch-Chaka Khan…Chaka Khan

Chaka--then and now

As you may have heard or seen, the amazing singer who is known to annihilate microphones during recording sessions has transformed herself.  She ain’t “Chubby Chaka” no more!

As the dynamic front woman for the 1970s R&B band Rufus Chaka Khan rocked tight bell bottoms, leather chaps, and mini-tops that barely covered her midriff.  She seduced her audience with a powerful voice and a figure 8 figure.  But, time passed and that figure 8 grew exponentially. 

Fast forward to last week.  Chaka appeared on the season finale of “American Idol”  in a slinky mesh catsuit.  At age 59 her figure 8 is back--the hard-earned result of a health crisis.  I admire the discipline it took for her to bring it back.  Check out the pics of the fabulous Ms. Khan!

On "American Idol"

And The Real Winner Is….

Viola Davis

Viola Davis is fierce. No discussion.  No dispute.  No doubt.  For the 2012 Academy Awards she took the extraordinary step of going for the glam while leaving the wig at home.  Ms. Davis was stunningly genuine.  She rocked her natural hair, looking vital, youthful, and incredibly gorgeous in the process.

She ignored the ridiculous beauty standard that prods black women to glue and sew hair they bought onto their scalps, damaging their natural locks in the process.  When are we going to reject a foreign beauty standard that is completely irrelevant to us?  When will we embrace our unique and often breathtaking beauty?  We don’t need lace front wigs to be pretty!

Celebrities are now the standard bearers for style and behavior, taking over the role that was traditionally our mothers’, aunties’, and grandmothers’.  So we need to see more Viola Davises strutting the red carpet wearing glorious Afros of every circumference, locs, springy coils and twists, and intricately-designed cornrows that rival aerial views of Midwestern farms.

Yes, black women are naturally beautiful.  There should be no further questions.  Thank you, Ms. Davis for making that statement.

Naomi Sims: 1948-2009

Naomi Sims -- simply the best. Mahogany carved Barbie doll with the high wattage smile who embodied Black glamour at the height of the Black Power movement. The alternate take of the All-American beauty. She looked like me -- and my friends Tanya, Camille, and Charlotte. She strode away from the myth of the light-skinned Black beauty as desirable. Reminded us that we come in a rainbow of hues, and that the wonder of the blackness can produce people of every imaginable skin tone.

Was super before the term "supermodel" reduced all long limbed beauties to sameness. Paved the way for other dark skinned beauties such as Iman, Alek Wek, Naomi Campbell and Roshumba. With Naomi sistas approached the intersection of the women's movement, the Black Power movement and the redefinition of beauty with less trepidation and an unlocked suitcase full of strength and style.

Thanks, Naomi, for being so fierce, so fabulous, so gorgeous. You left us too soon -- we'll miss you.