Donyale Luna became the first black woman to appear on the cover of a major fashion magazine. A sketch of her appeared on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar in January 1965 and the following year she graced the cover of British Vogue. Her Vogue cover came just months after her move to London.
Legendary mannequin-maker Adel Rootstein, who had created a Twiggy mannequin the year before, made one of her in 1967. Luna’s was the first well-known, if not the first, mannequin of a black woman.
Luna’ would later move to Italy and marry photographer Luigi Cazzaniga. They had a daughter named Dream. But her fast rise also introduced her to LSD and heroin. She died of a heroin overdose in 1979 at the age of 33.
These fabulous photos were taken by Jack Garofalo that show portraits of Donyale Luna in April 1968.
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