Fly girl, Naomi Sims made her mark as the first Black model to gain world wide recognition in the Sixties. Naomi rocketed to the top of the fashion world when she broke the color barrier in modeling and was emulated by Black women everywhere.When, in the late 1960's, Naomi Sim's face graced the cover of the New York Times magazine supplement, Fashion of the Times, African American women rejoiced, especially those of a darker skin tone, because Sims unlike models Dorothea Towles and Donyale Luna, wasn't light-skinned.
Naomi Sim's was featured on the covers and inside numerous top magazines such as Vouge, Ladies Home Journal, Life , Cosmopolitan, who before her had given no evidence that they thought Black was beautiful.
She is the author of five books on health, beauty and success for the Black woman. Such writings have earned her the reputation as the foremost expert on health and beauty for the Black woman.
Born in Oxford, Mississippi and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, she attended Fashion Institute of Technology and New York University. In 1976, she launched the Naomi Sims Collection sold in department stores and specialty stores. The Naomi Sims Collection has since expanded to include skin care, hair care and cosmetics for the Black woman.
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" Each of us has been provided with the raw elements of beauty. Elegance, grace, refinement, confidence, style, and cordiality are well within the grasp of every Black woman; these are the elements of which beauty is made-not a well-turned nose. A healthy body and mind are the first prerequisites; then and only then can we consider the aspects of cosmetic beauty. If you remember only one thing from this book, I want it to be the necessity for regular medical examinations to prevent and control illness, not how to apply lip gloss. Without health, there can be no beauty." - Taken from the second edition of All About Health and Beauty for the Black Woman (1986) by Naomi Sims.
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