Donyale Luna

Next up on Lipstick Alley is Donyale Luna. Donyale was very exquisite and ahead of her time if you ask me. She was also very troubled and struggled with racial identity as she claimed multiracial lineage of Indigenous Mexican, Indonesian, Irish and, last but least escapable, African American. Let's just say she was an exotic chameleon, so to speak, atleast in her own mind.





Brief excerpt from her Wikipedia bio 

After being discovered by the photographer David McCabe, she moved from Detroit to New York City to pursue a modeling career. In January 1965, a sketch of Luna appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar. She became the first African American model to appear on the cover of British Vogue (March 1966); the photograph was by David Bailey. According to The New York Times, she was under exclusive contract to the photographer Richard Avedon for a year at the beginning of her career.

An article in Time magazine published on 1 April 1966, "The Luna Year", described her as "a new heavenly body who, because of her striking singularity, promises to remain on high for many a season. Donyale Luna, as she calls herself, is unquestionably the hottest model in Europe at the moment. She is only 20, a Negro, hails from Detroit, and is not to be missed if one reads Harper's Bazaar, Paris Match, Britain's Queen, the British, French or American editions of Vogue.