Not since that refugee girl on the cover of National Geographic, has a woman’s eyes betwixt me.
And that is the eyes of Miss Donyale Luna.
Sometimes, God has a way of choosing a soul to carve a new road into an old business. Hers was a new face and the “old” business was the fashion industry. Unfortunately, it is those souls who quickly live fast, crash and then burn.
A cocktail of beauty, Miss Peggy Anne Freeman a.k.a Donyale Luna, was discovered by the photographer David McCabe, who convinced her to trot on over New York City from Detroit and have a try at stardom.
She said, “Back in Detroit I wasn’t considered beautiful or anything, but here I’m different.”
Her mother wanted her to live a life of giving sponge baths and scraping vomit off the floor. She wanted her to be a nurse. Who cares? Possums, that kind of work is secure! Her mother scolded her for running off with the first white man that promised her fame. But, if the world is a stage, then Miss Luna wanted to see her name on the Marquee!
At 6′ 2 and with bright azure blue contact lenses (I told Ava that they DO looked good on Black people, I’m a gonna get them back!), Miss Luna was a rarity indeed!
She sat high on a unique perch looking down at the fashion world and that of her people’s world, too. For a model with so many “firsts” Miss Luna spent much of her life denying her African-American heritage. But, don’t we all in a way? How many famous Black people just say they are just Black or just African-American? They are always trying to bring every nook and granny out of the wood-work. The other day, a journalist asked me “What was my culture?” I told him I was “Black”. The man was not amused. So, I corrected myself and asked him to forgive me. Possums, you should be happy to know that I, Lucresia Linton, am of Cuban, Black, Cherokee, Jamaican, Chinese, African-American, English, Jewish heritage and depending how far deep in the bushes you are willing to walk- Arawak and Taino Indigenous people, too!
Miss Luna ushered in androgynous modeling with her brown tight thighs and long legs in short graphic mini-dresses.
As, I said, hers was a legendary career of firsts:
- Upon her arrival she secured exclusive contract to famed photographer Richard Avedon
- First model of ethnic origin to appear on Vogue; appearing on the March 1966 issue.
- The first black woman to be featured on a U.S. fashion magazine: the January 1965 issue of Harper’s Bazaar
- Time Magazine published an article about her titled, “The Luna Year” on April 1, 1966
Thus, she was the first notable African American supermodel. That’s right! Someone is throwing a cell phone in the air at the help right now!
When Mr. Avedon had to cancel his contract due to pressure, Miss Luna then fled to Europe. Just like Josephine Baker before her, it made her even a bigger star!
“I love New York,” she said. “But there were bad things. People were on drugs or hung up on pot. There was homosexuality and lesbianism and people who liked to hurt.”
Possums, I am booking the next flight out to New York!
Maybe her mama was right after all.
Her images continued to vibrate with the 1960s and 1970s sexual revolution. Having caught the eye of none other than Mr. Andy Warhol, himself, she appeared in several Andy Warhol films. She was only one of two black women to be part of the Warhol studio. I would have been, but unfortunately I was born many years too late. And to think that Mr. Warhol could have put my breasts to good use!
Miss Luna appeared in films by Federico Fellini and Otto Preminger. She was cast in the lead of the film “Salome,” released in 1972.
Considered one of the artist Salvador Dali’s favorite models, Miss Luna also appeared in a nude photo layout in the April 1975 issue of Playboy.
Possums, what do we learn from Miss Luna’s life?
When you look in someone’s eyes, you see a soul there. We learn that a woman’s beauty, body, mind and spirit make up her individuality. She saw her body as art. When you see your body and the self as art, you tend to live life in a more extraordinary and explosive way.
Possums, your life is a dialogue.
It is hard for women and even men to see this now because of a corrupt perception of what true beauty is. Miss Luna did not bend to the mainstream status quo that the media and public tried to make her stick to. One can only imagine what she went through being the first in the 1960′s.
Luna died of an accidental pill overdose in Rome, Italy.
She was just 33 years old.
She left behind a daughter she named, Dream.
Heartbroken, Lucresia Linton decided to turn to the internet. She believes that if God gives you lemons, then you must order your very rude child to make you a pitcher of lemonade and go find an audience elsewhere!
