I definitely cannot have a style icon series on my blog without including Diana Ross and The Supremes. Diana was one of the people in the public eye that I admired so much while I was growing up. I remember well seeing The Supremes debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. As a little black girl it was the first time I saw black women on television back then who were beautiful and glamorous. Television and films in those days portrayed black women mostly as unattractive and thought of as only good for cleaning the homes of other people.
I always saw many beautiful black people around me in my everyday life when I was growing up. We just were not thought of or portrayed as people who were also outwardly attractive. Black people did not fit into the larger societies idea of beauty unless you looked like Lena Horne. Miss Horne looked like a white woman dipped in beige paint, so Lena was considered beautiful by the standards of society. Lena Horne definitely was a beautiful woman; no doubt about that. It is the world that puts limits on what is considered beautiful, therefore most black people do not fit into that mold. This twisted way of thinking affected many black girls growing up and I was no exception.
When I saw Florence Ballard, Diana Ross and Mary Wilson that Sunday night on Ed Sullivan I was mesmerized. The next day I went to school and all me and my schoolmates could talk about was this new singing group and how pretty and glamorous they looked. I wanted to be just like Diana when I grew up too.
Diana's look evolved as her career progressed and she eventually went off on her own as a solo performer. Miss Ross is extremely photogenic and very comfortable in front of a camera.
I also have large eyes and used to get teased about them when I was a little girl. When I reached my teen years that changed when all of a sudden my large eyes was what guys loved, so I ended up having the last laugh. :-)
Diana with the late Sammy davis Jr.
