Fifty years after she became the first black model to grace the cover of Vogue, Beverly Johnson is still pushing forward in business, entertainment and diversity advocacy.
Her accomplishments and challenges are highlighted in the newly opened one-woman show at 59E59 Theaters in New York. “Beverly Johnson in Vogue,” which runs through Jan. 28, also explores her struggle with substance abuse and allegations against Bill Cosby, who filed a defamation lawsuit against her in 2016. Following the killing of George Floyd, Johnson suggested that fashion, beauty and media should come to the fore. companies interview at least two Black professionals for every job opening. (The concept was suggested by partner Brian Maillian and is a derivative of the “Rooney Rule,” an affirmative action initiative introduced by former Pittsburgh Steelers president Dan Rooney in 2002.)
More from WWD
In an interview Monday, Johnson sounded forthright but self-effacing and relaxed; she detailed some of the most touching moments of her life and weighed in on the fashion industry. In addition to running a beauty business through Beverly Johnson Enterprises, brokering licensing deals and speaking engagements, she appears periodically on “The Barnes Bunch,” the reality show on which her daughter Anansa Sims stars alongside her ESPN analyst fiancé Matt Barnes and their six children. “I am Mary Poppins; I go in and I go out,” she said.
Johnson, who grew up “introverted, academic and a competitor on the first all-black swim team,” said she dreamed of a law career while studying at Northeastern University. Watching coverage of the Civil Rights movement with his “news junkie” father had put him on this path. It also influenced his view on diversity. Johnson’s father learned four languages while serving in the military. Even though he worked full-time as a steelworker, he paid his friends’ taxes for free from the family’s kitchen table. “A Polish friend would come to fetch my father to pay his taxes with a string of Polish sausages slung over his shoulder. An Italian friend would bring something else. “I acquired this kind of worldview from my father,” he said. “Even though we lived in an all-white neighborhood, they would come in through the back door. The roles seemed to have reversed. We had to enter through the back door. They were also friends. “He really left a good impression on diversity and the love of fair people,” he said.
The courage required for competitive swimming—not to mention walking home with wet hair after practice in Buffalo’s frigid winters (hand-held dryers were not yet common)—would later influence her professional modeling. “I was going to be a lawyer. I’m an introvert and a nerd. I was on the honor roll. Every time I walk on stage [to be honored], everyone would boo me. I was the first Black cheerleader. “I founded the first Black student union,” he said. “I wasn’t pretty. The pretty girls were short, with big legs and bodies. I was tall, skinny and flat-chested. I wore my hair in two braids throughout high school. Nobody was following me,” said Johnson.
“I don’t call it aging. I call it ‘anti-aging.’ It’s like a treasure hunt,” said Johnson, who is interested in artificial intelligence and connects with various generations.
Johnson started the one-man show a few years ago, performing in Carrie Fisher’s “Wishful Drinking,” “Onward: The Diana Nyad Story” and Dick Van Dyke’s “Step in Time!” A Musical Memoir. Before the pandemic struck, Johnson’s show was well-received at a workshop in West Hollywood, he said.
I’m thinking about how to celebrate 50 yearsThis The anniversary of the Vogue cover was difficult to reckon with. “This is half a century. Sometimes it’s hard to even say that,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he had no idea why the cover appeared (edited by Grace Mirabella). “I honestly think it was a fluke. In those days, you never knew if you got the cover until you got on it,” he said.
In the spring of 1974, photographer Francesco Scavullo was hired for a beauty shoot, along with stylist Frances Stein, hair stylist Suga, and makeup artist Way Bandy. “Of course there was magic in the air. But there was magic in a great beauty shoot,” Johnson said. “Someone has guts [to use the image for the history-making cover].”
Recalling the huge response and interviewing media from “all over the world,” Johnson said he only recently learned that Vogue had put in three production runs to meet the demand. Johnson said resharing this and other personal stories, including those about challenges, makes people think, “if he can do it, so can I.”
Johnson said the idea to “give that moment in history the life it deserves” celebrating Vogue’s groundbreaking cover was indirectly suggested by a gentleman through “Beverly’s Full House,” which formerly aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network. “You know how it is, you don’t want to blow yourself up, you want someone else to do it. But a closed mouth never feeds,” she said. Although she’s always spoken out about tough topics like depression, hysterectomy and menopause, focusing on the fashion inflection point was a new connection.
Substance abuse and addiction are also addressed in Johnson’s off-Broadway show, which cites the recent death of actor Matthew Perry (due to the acute effects of ketamine) as an example of “how insidious the disease has become.”
“Healing is sacred. What we learned at AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] This is not through promotion. For example. They think you shouldn’t make it available to the public. I’m still in AA so I followed the rules. It would slip out every now and then. If someone asked if I wanted a drink, I would say, ‘No, I never drink and I don’t do drugs.’ ‘Oh, excuse me?’ “they would say,” he said.
His audience “laughs with me, cries with me,” he said.
As for how the fashion industry has progressed since Floyd’s murder in 2020, Johnson said there has been a movement around appointing black executives to company boards, but there is work to be done. “We still have a long way to go. Every industry is a bubble in itself, but ours is a small bubble that’s really hard to get into,” he said.
In terms of increasing diversity, Johnson said “laws are needed to ensure people do the right thing.” That way, if they don’t, there will be consequences.” Johnson praised the Model Alliance and its founder, Sara Ziff, for their support of the Fashion Workers Act, which calls for financial transparency and accountability in the modeling industry. “Listen, there is no transparency at Iconic Focus, my manager whom I love, or at the other agencies I work with. I don’t know how much they charge. I have to trust them, which I do. I’d like to think everyone is honest. But transparency would be nice. It’s like we’re kids and I’m far from a child model. “I can have it,” he said.
Johnson credited his father for teaching him to use his voice “when the pressure was on.”
After babysitting one day, Johnson recalled “tackling this guy” when a man pushed her onto the bed and got on top of her. Nearly a decade later, Johnson said she confronted him and “looked into his lifeless eyes and said into his face, ‘Have you molested any little girls lately?’ he said. “This felt so good. It just turned red and left. Facing it gave me so much strength.
Johnson said on Monday that the incident, when he was 12, led to his drinking alcohol for the first time and how he later “threw up at school”.
Johnson said sexual abuse is a “global dynamic” and recalled an experience she had with Cosby, alleging that he drugged a cup of coffee he gave her. “It’s a miracle it happened both times. [referring also to the babysitting altercation] I got out of there without being raped. If I had been raped, who knows, you’d be talking to me on the phone right now. “This ends the trauma, the lives of these women,” Johnson said, adding that she now deals with her personal trauma by giving back.
The advocate and model sits on the board of directors of the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center Foundation, where abused and sexually exploited children are immediately supported with services.
Looking five years ahead, Johnson is hesitant to speculate about how the fashion industry might change. “I don’t expect anything. All I do is do the best I can, talking to you or a model who’s had a bad experience and is running away from it because they’re traumatized. We’re talking about young women, but it’s not just about young, little models,” Johnson said. “There are hairdressers and men. The modeling industry is the Wild, Wild West, where waitresses and auto workers have unions. There are unions for industrialists. We are a trillion [dollar] industry, but there are no rules.
Johnson’s outspokenness is nothing new. He explained that in the 1970s he turned to a smoking public relations executive to represent him. He said, ‘What will you talk to the press?’ You are a model. ‘What’s there to talk about if you’re not going to spill red wine on Jacqueline Kennedy’s white trousers for some pressure?’”
Even though the manager resisted so much, telling Johnson he didn’t want to take his money, Johnson persisted and paid him about $600 a month. Two months later she appeared on the cover of Vogue and prs moved to prepare her for interviews with the media. Sometimes they interrupted him “to explain what he meant.” Johnson recalled with a laugh. “Even back then I was a bit of a firecracker.”
The best of WWD