Naomi Ruth Sims: The Original Black Supermodel Dies aged 61 in the USA

Before the other UK Naomi, a Black and beautiful US fashion supermodel was rocking the catwalks when black was not in style. However, legendary Naomi Sims died tragically of cancer. A model, cover girl and makeup entrepreneur, this long-limbed beauty launched a cosmetics line for women of colour. Naomi went on to create and market a line of wigs sold under her name. Fatima Dupres-Griffiths pays tribute to the enterprising beauty who died Saturday 1st August 2009, and whose death was reported in publications like The New York Times.

Fashion model Naomi Ruth Sims (1948–2009) was the first black woman to appear on the cover of Ladies' Home Journal, as the magazine featured an article on black models. Naomi was also the first black model on the cover of Life magazine the next year. In both years International Mannequins voted her top model of the year. Two years after she began a modelling career, she appeared in mostly every international fashion magazine. By 1969 Naomi Sims overcame racism to become the USA's first black supermodel. Five years after reigning as top model, Naomi quit modelling to start a wig business, the Naomi Sims Collection. For her pioneering wigs she developed and patented a lightweight fibre that resembled black hair better than traditional wigs designed for the masses.

She later expanded the business to include perfume and cosmetics designed for black women, and

formed the company Naomi Sims Beauty Products. Naomi wrote All About Health and Beauty for the Black Woman in 1976, How to Be a Top Model in 1979, and All About Hair Care for the Black Woman in 1982. By this time she was at the top of her game globally.
Links to buy Naomi's books:
All About Success for the Black Woman
How to Be a Top Model
All About Hair Care for the Black Woman

Born in Oxford, Mississippi, Naomi Sims moved with her family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school, she moved to New York City and studied merchandising and textile design at the Fashion Institute of Technology on a scholarship in 1966. The five- feet-ten-inch Sims approached modelling agencies in New York hoping to find work. At first she was rejected stating that there was no work for black models. Then she met the fashion editor for the New York Times, modelled, and immediately appeared on the cover of the Sunday edition of the Times. While modelling agencies still rejected her, Naomi joined former top model Wilhelmina Cooper seeking a modelling contract and her career took off. Her dark skin was newsworthy Her appearance as the first black model on the cover of Ladies’ Home Journal in November 1968 was a historic moment in the Black is Beautiful movement. However, the Black and beautiful Naomi Ruth Sims died Saturday August 1st in Newark, where she lived, aged 61.Born March 30th 1948, Naomi was the third of three daughters of Elizabeth and John Sims.

Her father was a porter, and soon after her birth, Naomi’s parents divorced. After her mother fell ill, Naomi was placed in foster care. Yet she remained close to her sisters, and followed the second eldest, Betty, to New York, which was to revolutionise her life .This was after graduating from Westinghouse High School. Recognised as ‘a first’ by major designers like Halston, who told The New York Times in 1974: “She was the great ambassador for all black people. She broke down all the social barriers.” Naomi faced many challenges during her teens: being placed in foster care, seeming too tall, and living in a largely poor white district in Pittsburgh.Yet all these obstacles merely made the young Naomi even more determined to become someone to be reckoned with.

She not only succeeded in her quest to be somebody, she triumphed in the face of tokenism, racism and a time of racial and cultural unrest during the civil rights movement headed by Rev Martin Luther King Jr. Naomi used her business savvy to become respected in the fiercely competitive model industry, going on to earn $1,000 weekly, got herself hired for a national television campaign for AT&T wearing Bill Blass designs.

Getting her face seen on a prominent campaign was a personal triumph for Naomi, as other famous designers enquired about her and went on to hire her for their campaigns. Naomi headed the vanguard of the fashion movement for black models that set a precedent for decades to come.

During her lifetime she became an icon for Black Beauty. However, sadly her personal liferemained complicated with her 1973 marriage to Manhattan art dealer Michael Findlay ending in divorce in 1991. Naomi Sims is survived by their son Bob Findlay, her sister, Betty Sims and a granddaughter. By the end of her fabulous life, Naomi had become friends with artists Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol. Yet she retained the sense of propriety that her foster parents instilled in her, even rejecting the lucrative 1972 movie offer to star in “Cleopatra Jones”. Naomi explained that she was offended by its racist portrayal of black people.

Naomi Sims’ wig and cosmetic empire boomed, proving that designing your product to match your customers’ needs can always be profitable if you market it right. Naomi used every skill and tool at her disposal to become very wealthy before dying of cancer. She often attributed her success to using her race as an advantage.