Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion

Compiled by the Chicago History Museum, edited by Joy L. Bivins and Rosemary K. Adams. Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair tells the story of the country's most popular traveling fashion show and the inspirational woman behind it, Eunice Johnson. Three provocative essays and more than sixty full-color images weave the Fashion Fair's tale of vision, innovation, and power that has inspired African American women for decades. Eurnice Johnson, longtime director/producer of the Ebony Fashion Fair, has a remarkable flair for fashion. Her hard-won influence with designers around the world conveyed style to audiences in big cities and small towns alike and brought the civil rights struggle to the runway. At a time when African American women were largely excluded from mainstream fashion, the show, along with Ebony magazine, proved that black was indeed beautiful. Softcover, 110 pages.