The Beauty of Retrospect: Cynthia King Week, Part Three

Cynthia King was in such great demand as a model, some advertisers couldn't get enough of her. Look at this photo from a cigarette ad showing six images of her in one picture.

In a startling Bob Mackie dress, I might add. :-)

In a fantasy world, you'd find six women with the same unique combination of beauty, elegance, and coolness as Cynthia King. But there's only one of her.

Because only she could project a lovely image like in this 1987 black-and-white photo . . .

. . . and show off some tough-cookie sex appeal in this 1984 color shot . . .

. . . while still being Cynthia King. :-)

The Ohio-born Ms. King started modeling as a way to pay her college tuition when she took part in a convention sponsored by the Wilhelmina modeling agency, who discovered and signed her.  She told Ebony magazine in 1984 that people had asked her about what type of look modeling agencies were looking for.  "There isn't a set sort of characteristics," she said.  "It all depends on what the public responds to, and that changes from time to time."

But real beauty never goes out of style. ;-)

The photo immediately above is from that Ebony piece.      

The Beauty of Retrospect: Cynthia King Week, Part Two

Cynthia King was a versatile model in the eighties, having done work for numerous catalogs and ads. The reason is obvious.  As these two pictures show, she could look sweet and charming with a smile and a headscarf . . . 

. . . or look serious and professional.

And even with her serious look, she could still be charming. :-)

Both of these pictures are from 1986.

The Beauty of Retrospect: Cynthia King Week, Part One

I still can't believe that I haven't featured Cynthia King, one of the loveliest black models of the 1980s and one of the loveliest models of the 1980s, period, since August 2010!  Well, I should be able to make up for lost time easily, starting today with these two pictures.

Cynthia King was one of the brightest stars of the Wilhelmina agency in the eighties, and she was a constant presence in ads for certain cigarette brand.  Both of these photos are taken from said ads, though, as always, the brand is not mentioned here and the offending carcinogenic appendages are edited out.   

I haven't found out a great deal about Ms. King, though, because she inexplicably failed to become a big star in the modeling world. But I do know this; she became an artist and is a prolific painter.  I'll add a little more info about that later. :-)

The Beauty of Retrospect: Beverly Johnson Week, Part Five

True beauty never fades.  Remember when Neil Sedaka sang how, however young and beautiful you may be, someday your looks will be gone?  Don't buy it.  Because Beverly Johnson still looks beautiful into her sixties, as this picture from 2013 demonstrates.     

To respond to that inevitable counterpoint comprised of two words - "plastic surgery" - I would say that even if Beverly Johnson has had a face lift (she once joked that everyone should have enough money to afford one), here she still looks like a woman in her early sixties.  Because no one should ever want to look as young as they used to be; they should only want to look their best for their age. And someone as beautiful as Ms. Johnson has always been has no problem looking their best as they get older.

And besides, even if someone does have plastic surgery, who am I to judge? 

And with that, I close the book on this week devoted to Beverly Johnson.  My next week-long tribute to a model previously featured on this blog, Cynthia King, commences shortly.  

The Beauty of Retrospect: Beverly Johnson Week, Part Four

So if Beverly Johnson can look gorgeous with little or no effort, imagine how gorgeous she looks with a lot of effort!

At her most glamorous, her beauty inspires superlative descriptions that make her what people like to call a "supermodel."  Which is obvious from the picture below.   

I actually featured earlier on this blog a photo that was taken the same day as this one - same red strapless dress, same tall bottle of Evian . . . and both look like photos from a party.  This one looks like she's even much less conscious of the camera than the previous one I showed (which is here), allowing for a more mysterious, somewhat mischievous smile . . . which of course, adds to her appeal.

It's a smile that has been a an asset of Ms. Johnson for her entire modeling career.  Below is one of her earliest pictures in her portfolio, from 1973. 

What was making her smile here? Possibly the thought of a long, fruitful modeling career ahead of her? :-)

The Beauty of Retrospect: Beverly Johnson Week, Part Three

There's a reason why Beverly Johnson was and remains such a pioneer for black women in modeling.  Her beauty is simply too obvious to be denied by even those who hold the most racist standards of feminine beauty.  This closeup photo of Ms. Johnson demonstrates that quite clearly.   

How . . . sublime.

Here, Ms Johnson isn't aiming for over-the-top glamour, and she isn't trying to command attention.  She's just looking into the camera the way any woman would when having her picture taken.  Yet she still comes across as a goddess. 

I guess that's why she's been vaed the "goddess next door." :-)  

The Beauty of Retrospect: Beverly Johnson Week, Part Two

It's the face you always notice first with Beverly Johnson . . . that soft, soulful expression she always projects with her warm eyes, her gentle lips, and her magnificent cheekbones.

That gentleness comes out quite vividly in this closeup photo, with her hair pulled back, allowing the viewer to focus on her sweet, inviting beauty. :-)

But when Ms. Johnson needs to turn on the sex appeal, she does so with minimal effort, as in this 1981 photo, with a hair style that not only frames her beautiful face perfectly but with an outfit that shows off that magnificent neckline, her sensuous shoulders, and her sexy arms. 

Perfection?  Absolutely.  Her outfit is revealing, but it still leaves enough to the imagination.  If it left nothing to the imagination (and she's posed for such pictures, I should admit), I wouldn't post it here.

And as it's actually from a cigarette ad (the sort of ads Ms. Johnson stopped doing because she didn't want to promote smoking any more), if not for the airbrush job I did on the offending ciggie and the accompanying copy, I wouldn't have posted this picture either.

The Beauty of Retrospect: Beverly Johnson Week, Part One

I've accumulated so many pictures of Beverly Johnson that, despite having featured her here so often - the two most recent times were just this past February (in a picture from an Avon catalog with Kim Alexis) and in December 2017 - it seems only natural to feature her here for a whole week.  After all, she was one of the first models I ever had a crush on. :-)

By the time these two black and white photos were taken in 1980, Ms. Johnson had already made history be becoming the first black model to appear on the cover of the American edition of Vogue and having appeared on several magazine covers and in numerous fashion editorials by then.  But in 1980, she was only 28 (do the math to figure out her current age), with many more years ahead of her to make more history. 

And she certainly made history here with these two lovely photos.  

The photo immediately above, from September 1980, shows Ms. Johnson at her most exquisitely elegant.

The Beauty of Retrospect: Anna Bayle Week, Part Five

When the fashion shows were over, and she had to get back home, Anna Bayle left her seductive struts and glamorous outfits behind, but even when she wasn't working, she was still a stunner because there was still . . . that face.  Her dark almond eyes, her soft smile, her smooth complexion . . . it's for those reasons that she could wear a sweatshirt and jeans and still stun.

Anna Bayle's beauty comes from strength rather than the stereotypical daintiness associated with East Asian women.  As a premier model, she demonstrated that women of her ethnicity and of other East Asian backgrounds could be gorgeous and tough.

Though, as the photo below shows, it only took a toss of a few locks of her to bring out touch of demureness.      

That face . . . and wow, that earring!  :-D

That's it for my look back at Anna Bayle.  A whole week of Beverly Johnson begins when I return.

The Beauty of Retrospect: Anna Bayle Week, Part Four

As that old song once used in a Chanel commercial goes, Anna Bayle didn't want to set the world on fire . . .

. . . although she certainly did that when she modeled this Chanel number at a 1985 fashion show.

I don't think she wanted to set flames in our hearts, though when she modeled this Renato Balestra dress at a 1988 fashion show . . .

. . . she certainly set our hearts alight.  

Trust me, it's not the outfits.  It's who's wearing them.  The key to being a great model is to make the clothes as memorable as you are.  No one could make us look at a Renato Balestra dress like this the way Anna Bayle could.  And I couldn't care less about Renato Balestra.  ;-) 

Would you believe I never even heard of Renato Balestra before I found this picture? :-D 

The Beauty of Retrospect: Anna Bayle Week, Part Three

Anna Bayle modeled many an exotic dress in her career, such as this muted pink sleeveless number . . .

. . . as well as this more festive item below.

But I'll let you in on a little secret.  Anna Bayle didn't need an expensive fancy dress to look beautiful.  As the picture below demonstrates, she could rock out in a simple top.  Well, a simple sleeveless gold lamé top . . . :-D

And I almost forgot to point out her magnificent earrings! ;-)

As to the subject of who designed all of these outfits and accessories . . . right, you know I don't really care about that. :-)  

The Beauty of Retrospect: Anna Bayle Week, Part Two

If the designer Auggie Cordero hadn't been scouting a beauty contest, Anna Bayle might have become a doctor.

Anna Bayle is originally from the Philippines, where she began pre-med studies at the country's national university.  She entered a beauty pageant on campus, where Auggie Cordero discovered her talent to stun and amaze the spectators, and he became her mentor.  Through him, Ms. Bayle worked her way through the modeling circuit by starting out in Hong Kong (this was when it was still a British colony) before moving on to Paris as a prerequisite for the biggest city in the fashion world - New York.  She made it to the Big Apple, and even though she reitred from modeling in 1994, she still lives there today.  The above photo is from a New York Times editorial.

Among the designers she worked with are Thierry Mugler, Chanel, Valentino, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, and Renato Balestra, who designed the lovely green dress in the above picture.

And Christian Lacroix, as seen below.

To think it's been twenty-five years as of this writing since she last appeared on a runway. If there's a woman who's walked down the catwalk with the same grace, beauty, and sex appeal as Anna Bayle, I must have missed her.

By the way, as she is Philippine, her name is pronounced "BY-lay," not "bale."  

The Beauty of Retrospect: Anna Bayle Week, Part One

And now, for a week of photos of the blindingly beautiful Anna Bayle, whom I first featured in September 2013 . . . with only one photo.  This, to be honest, was a colossal underrepresentation of her work on my part.

Although she did some print work, Anna Bayle, as noted, was primarily a runway model.  Models who grace the catwalk are known for their ability to make a haute couture outfit look even sexier than it already is, and Anna Bayle, like Claire Atkinson, was certainly up to that task.  Which is precisely why designers turned to her for their shows.     

Including Valentino, under the realization that only she could sport a strapless red dress like this.

But Anna Bayle looked stunning in a strapless dress of any color, as evidenced by the blue and purple number below.  

But how did she look in a different sort of dress?  Well, check her out in this!

"Stunning" is an understatement.   

The Beauty of Retrospect: Claire Atkinson Week, Part Five

I thought I'd end my week-long look back at Claire Atkinson with her softer side on the runway . . . specifically, pictures of her wearing outfits that aren't so jaw-dropping but no less eye-catching than some of her bolder dresses . . . like this Lancon ready-to-wear number.

Even a model like Claire Atkinson can be button-down once in awhile.

And in this gentle Mila Schon dress, she seems to float by like a light summer breeze.

It's a nice contrast to some of the other haute couture numbers she sported, which were the equivalent of a severe thunderstorm. :-D

That's it for Claire Atkinson.  Next week, we look at another runway model who is still a legend for her sultry catwalk presence . . . Anna Bayle. :-)     

The Beauty of Retrospect: Claire Atkinson Week, Part Four

A day after the anniversary of America's independence from Great Britain, I thought I'd show Claire Atkinson - from the mother country, remember - showing off some fireworks of her own. :-D

Both are Lapidus designs from July 1990.  Below, she sports a strapless lavender number with the same sort of feminine swagger that fashion shows from New York to Paris are famous for.

And she really turns on the star power in the black outfit below.

Of course, Claire Atkinson could wear something off the racks of Wal-Mart (or, in her case, Primark) and still turn heads. 

The Beauty of Retrospect: Claire Atkinson Week, Part Three

Claire Atkinson was mostly a runway model; it was her forte. Many a designer sought her out for her poise and her self-confidence, which she projected flawlessly and effortlessly in one fashion show after another.

The outfit below is Ms. Atkinson at her most regal, emulating the poise and grace normally associated with the British aristocracy.

And the self-confidence is very evident in this 1990 photo showing our heroine in a glamorous, star-studded  Laroche number.

I can't think of any outfit Claire Atkinson was not suited for. :-)  

The Beauty of Retrospect: Claire Atkinson Week, Part Two

Don't say I didn't warn you. 

Pictured below are two of the most eye-opening, most jaw-dropping, most absolutely exquisite dresses Claire Atkinson modeled for fashion shows in the eighties and early nineties.  It's safe to say that she was a bigger star than the outfits she inhabited.  Like the sexy outfit below, complete with a cape. 

Other top models are known as "supermodels." Here, Claire Atkinson plays the role of Superwoman.

And she dropped many an observer to their knees walking down the runway in this Jean-Louis Scherrer number.

I see stars . . . and I don't mean the pattern on her dress.  Because Claire Atkinson has an effect that's as much etheral as it is ethereal. ;-) 

The Beauty of Retrospect: Claire Atkinson Week, Part One

My first model to be featured for a whole week in retrospect is Britain's Claire Atkinson.

Did I say "Britain's Claire Atkinson?"  Because she doesn't really belong to one country. She lived in California as a teenager and she lives in Paris today, and her fame among fashionistas is international itself.

Which, along with the fact that she's a friend of mine, is why I'm devoting an entire week to her.  And I have the pictures.

I'm starting with this picture, showing Ms. Atkinson in a leather outfit.  As daring as this outfit may seem, she's actually modeled dresses that have, to put it mildly, raised many more eyebrows.  

You'll see some of those very soon.