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vintage slideshow
July 17, 2014

Beyond Jean Harlow: Rarely Seen Photos of Glamorous Black Women

By Allison P. Davis

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Photo: Walter Iooss Jr/Getty Images

“Vintage Hollywood glamour” usually calls to mind images of Audrey Hepburn, Jean Harlow, Grace Kelly — all those silver-screen goddesses who appear on posters and populate coffee-table books. But the people those photo collections don’t usually include are the black singers, actresses, and starlets who were living an equally glamorous existence in front of flashbulbs.

Where are the portraits of Dorothy Dandridge? The party shots of Eartha Kitt? Writer Nichelle Gainer wondered the same thing when she started researching for a novel about black beauty pageants and uncovered stunning, little-seen images. Three years ago she started a Tumblr, Vintage Black Glamour, and it’s now scheduled to become a coffee-table book set for release later this summer.

The shots, ranging from 1900 to 1980, feature faces both familiar and unfamiliar, iconic portraits and  unknowns, but all the women featured helped break down color lines, revolutionizing Hollywood just by existing beautifully.

Here’s a sneak peek of images from Gainer’s forthcoming collection, featuring the Supremes going airplane chic, Lena Horne sitting front row at Pierre Balmain, and the other celebrities and civil rights activists who embodied a rarely considered definition of Hollywood glamour.niche

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1 / 12 Photos
Chorus Girls at Harlem Theater, 1936  Photo: Lucien Aigner/© Corbis. All Rights Reserved.
Aretha Franklin, 1969  Photo: Lipchitz/AP1960
Lena Horne at Pierre Balmain, 1960  Photo: Lipchitz/AP1960
Diana Ross, c. 1970  Photo: Michael Ochs Archives
Josephine Baker, 1920  Photo: -/2009 AFP
The Supremes, 1965  Photo: Evening Standard
Lola Falana, 1973  Photo: Mondadori/Mondadori Portfolio
Nina Simone, 1965  Photo: Teenie Harris Archive/Carnegie M
Dorothy Dandridge, 1954  Photo: Allan Grant./Time & Life Pictures
Naomi Sims, 1969  Photo: Yale Joel/Time Life Pictures
Josephine Premice, 1951  Photo: Kurt Hutton
Princess Kouka of Sudan, 1937  Photo: Frank Shaw
1 / 12

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  • vintage slideshow
  • black glamour
  • vintage black glamour
  • lena horne
  • aretha franklin
  • diana ross
  • josephine baker
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