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July 5, 2015

Nina Simone’s Uncompromising, Fearless Wardrobe

By Allison P. Davis

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Photo: JazzSign/Lebrecht Music & Arts/Corbis

There’s a moment in Liz Garbus’s excellent new Netflix documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone?, that perfectly captures the boldness and modernity of the iconic  jazz singer and civil-rights activist. “I want to be a rich black bitch,” Nina Simone declares, while the camera pans over a photo of her beaming in the front seat of a giant convertible — the standard pose of someone who is well on her way to realizing her dream of RBB-dom.

Without Simone, would Rihanna ever have been able to assert the same life goals in “Bitch Better Have My Money”? It remains remarkable for a black woman to proudly claim both her blackness and her womanhood, and to tell the world that she not only deserved to get hers but fully intended to do so. The documentary reexamines Simone’s life through never-before-seen photos, interviews, and personal letters, and it’s evident that for all her troubles, she never doubted her talent, never denied her own power, and never shied away from asserting what it meant to be a black woman, even if it made others uncomfortable. “You can’t help it,” she famously said of her work. “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.” And from the beginning of her career in the late 1950s to her death in 2003, Simone did just that, through her activism, her music, and also through her enviably fearless style.

From her evening gowns and funky stage costumes to her casual at-home looks, Simone’s style served as an unapologetic visual counterpart to her art:  She favored head wraps, dangling jewelry, loud prints, big sunglasses, and pure white evening gowns that made her skin look even darker, as if to emphasize her young, gifted blackness. Nina Simone dressed to celebrate herself — and to remind the world that she was, indeed, a rich black bitch.

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1 / 18 Photos
1952 Eunice Kathleen Waymon in a black leotard and subtle cat-eye, before she chose the stage name Nina Simone. Photo: Herb Snitzer/Getty Images
1955 An early shot of Simone doing her makeup backstage. Even with the sleek bob of a ’50s girl-group member, there's already a Nina Simone–ness ... 1955 An early shot of Simone doing her makeup backstage. Even with the sleek bob of a ’50s girl-group member, there's already a Nina Simone–ness to her stage look that transcends the trendiness. Photo: Sam Falk/Getty Images
1963, onstage at Carnegie Hall "Nina was adamant about making a solo appearance at Carnegie Hall in fulfillment of her childhood dream [to b... 1963, onstage at Carnegie Hall "Nina was adamant about making a solo appearance at Carnegie Hall in fulfillment of her childhood dream [to be] the first black female classical pianist. None of the concert promoters would undertake such a presentation because they did not believe she could carry off a solo concert. Therefore, when I resigned from the NYPD, I took my pension rebate and, on the advice of experts in the music industry, hired Felix Gerstman, New York City's premier concertmaster, to manage the presentation." —Andrew Stroud, Simone's husband. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
1963 Simone backstage after the Carnegie Hall performance, this time in a Grecian-inspired evening gown. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
1965 Stylishly lounging with a cigarette in a Pittsburgh hotel. Photo: Teenie Harris Archive/Carnegie M/Getty Images
1964 Simone's own interpreation of the Mod moment, topped off with a matching head wrap. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
1968 At a shoot for London Life magazine. Photo: Getty Images/Getty Images
1968 Simone taking a break in a London recording studio with her daughter Lisa, who was 5 at the time. Photo: Corbis
1968 A portrait session in London. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
1969 By the late ’60s, songs like "Mississippi Goddam" had made Simone a powerful voice of the civil-rights movement, and in this outfi... 1969 By the late ’60s, songs like "Mississippi Goddam" had made Simone a powerful voice of the civil-rights movement, and in this outfit she looks every bit the revolutionary leader.  Photo: Jack Robinson/Getty Images
Date unknown  Photo: Gilles Petard/Getty Images
c. 1970 Did any woman have a better caftan game than Simone? Here she's in Switzerland, relaxing in head-to-toe prints with a matching head wrap.... c. 1970 Did any woman have a better caftan game than Simone? Here she's in Switzerland, relaxing in head-to-toe prints with a matching head wrap. Photo: JazzSign/Lebrecht Music & Arts/Corbis
1967 A performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. It takes a brave woman to wear a white netted jumpsuit. Photo: Tom Copi/Getty Images
1967  Photo: David Redfern/Getty Images
1978 Photographed in the streets of Paris. Photo: John Minihan/Getty Images
Date unknown  Photo: Corbis
c. 1980 After disappearing from the spotlight for a few years, Simone returned the stage without losing an ounce of her stage presence. Photo: H... c. 1980 After disappearing from the spotlight for a few years, Simone returned the stage without losing an ounce of her stage presence. Photo: Herb Snitzer/Getty Images
1997 Just over half a decade before she died in 2003, Simone was still the epitome of daring. Photo: Peter Williams/Corbis
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