Style Flashback: Donyale Luna

Donyale Luna, birth name Peggy Anne Freeman, is credited as being one of the first African-American supermodels and the first to appear on the cover of Vogue Magazine (March 1966). The cover is infamous for how the photographer made her hide her features with her hand as to not 'offend' Vogue's regular, white readers. Luna was originally from Detroit, Michigan, but moved to New York City in the late 1950s to pursue modeling. During her career the 6’2” model also appeared on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar (January 1965) and acted in a few movies, most notably "Salome", in which she played the main character by the same name. Luna is said to be responsible for her own demise in the fashion world. Towards the end of her career she crawled her way on and off the runways, didn’t show up for bookings and declared to anyone who would listen that she was from Mars?! I spotlighted her because before she went crazy, she was incredibly elegant, stylish and full of life! She was the girl seen at all the cool parties in the 60's. Donyale Luna passed away in May, 1979 in Rome, Italy... R.I.P.