Naomi Sims papers

1957-1981 [bulk 1970-1981]

Naomi Sims (1948-2009) was one of the top African American fashion models of the 1960s and 1970s. Born in Oxford, Mississippi, she spent much of her childhood in Pittsburgh, then moved to New York after high school, where she studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology and New York University. While in college, she became interested in modeling and approached agencies, but was initially rejected due to her dark skin. In 1967, she was featured in the fashion supplement of The New York Times, which she parlayed into a deal for representation with model-turned-agent Wilhemina Cooper. She had quick success, landing a spot in an AT&T commercial and covers of Ladies' Home Journal (November 1968; she was the first Black model to appear on the cover) and Life magazine (October 1969). She also achieved success as a runway model for designers such as Halston, Teal Traina, Fernando Sanchez, and Giorgio di Sant'Angelo. In 1973, she started a business designing wigs for Black women, the Naomi Sims Collection, which eventually came to encompass cosmetics and fragrances as well. She also wrote several books on modelling, health, beauty, and business aimed at Black women. In 1972, she married Michael Findlay, a Manhattan-based art dealer (the marriage ended in divorce in 1991). They had one son, Bob. Sims died in Newark, New Jersey, in 2009.