She was the first Black woman to own a modeling firm, and she advocated for diversity — both on and off the runway.
As the documentary about her life "Invisible Beauty," was presented at the Tribeca Festival, we spoke to the "godmother of fashion" Bethann Hardison.
As the documentary about her life "Invisible Beauty," was presented at the Tribeca Festival, we spoke to the "godmother of fashion" Bethann Hardison.
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CreativityTranscript
00:00Being a model is great if it's 60s, 70s, 80s, and the 90s.
00:04Being a model in the 2000 on, I feel sorry
00:08because it's not like the same as being a model.
00:10We really were models.
00:12We brought so much attention to the designer.
00:16We brought so much to the designer.
00:18He allowed us to be muses.
00:20He was inspired by us.
00:22We could walk, we could go down that runway
00:24and sell the clothes just the way we wanted.
00:26For Brute, I sat down with fashion
00:28and modeling industry titan Bethann Hartsford.
00:31After her start as a groundbreaking model,
00:33she became the first black woman to own a modeling firm.
00:36In time, she's transformed into an unwitting leader
00:39of the movement for more diversity and inclusion
00:41in the fashion and modeling industries.
00:43I remember one editor from Glamour said to me,
00:45Bethann, do you really think you can make a difference?
00:47And I just start laughing.
00:53I've done it before.
00:54People think that this is all brand new,
00:57having integrated shows or integration in any general
01:03when it comes down to either advertising.
01:06Because there was an agency called Black Beauty,
01:09they filtered all the black talent out for the advertisers.
01:14And when I came along, I was working in a garment district
01:17and I was working from the button factory
01:19to junior dresses to low-end dresses.
01:22I came up really growing in that world.
01:24And it's so cool, it was very cool.
01:27There were a lot of people of color.
01:30Most people don't know that, I see,
01:31because they think that it's been suppressed.
01:34It's not suppressed.
01:35Without her existing, then the opportunities
01:37wouldn't exist for me to do what I love.
01:39I mean, it's as simple as that.
01:41The fashion model to me was always the girl
01:43who wore the designer clothes
01:44and we supported the industry of designers.
01:47And then that changed, changed because Calvin Klein
01:50put the print model onto his runway
01:53and that became something that everybody else
01:56As time goes on, finally, the fashion model
02:00that we would think was a fashion model
02:01that didn't exist anymore, the girl of color,
02:03slowly began to do print.
02:05Regis Parnes came along to develop French Elle here,
02:10changed everything.
02:11That was the game changer.
02:13All of a sudden, Condé Nast and Hirsch
02:14had to really step it up
02:16because he was putting girls of color in the magazines,
02:19on the cover of magazines, and he didn't care.
02:21And it just changed things.
02:23I always know, because I've lived life long enough,
02:27you can change things.
02:29But in the end of the day, I really realized
02:30that at some given point, these girls are working.
02:33Look at this, they got editorials.
02:35They're going on like locations for Vogue, you know?
02:37That sort of helped me to start the Black Girls Coalition.
02:40It was more to celebrate the girls.
02:41It was, at the beginning, it wasn't about trying
02:43to do anything about diversity or speaking up
02:47about the lack of racial inclusion.
02:50They needed to know that that had never happened before.
02:52All of them working the way they were working
02:55had never existed before.
02:56And then eventually, you know,
02:57we started to come after commercial advertisers
03:00because we could sort of see
03:01that that wasn't a good situation either.
03:05And as time goes on, you'll see that we had that
03:08for like maybe from 88 to 93 or four.
03:13And then by that time, the industry started to change.
03:16You might need to be your foot against the pedal,
03:20but you can change things.
03:22Also, we didn't have casting directors
03:24and there was no stylist before for designers.
03:25They did everything in-house
03:27and that's how models could become muses.
03:30And once the outside people start to come in
03:32to influence the industry,
03:34all of a sudden the black girls, the glamorous girl,
03:37they all start to leave the runway, leave editorial.
03:42And that was the beginning of the end.
03:44That was mid-90s.
03:47So it took about 10 years
03:50to bring harsh attention to that.
03:53Took me a while.
03:55Alongside co-director Frederique Chang,
03:57Hardison presented Invisible Beauty,
03:59a documentary about her life and career,
04:01exploring how she became a steadfast advocate
04:03for more diversity, both on and off the runway.
04:07She's been the godmother of fashion.
04:13And whether people know or not,
04:15she has changed the way beauty is defined.
04:19The title was from a film I was working on prior.
04:21The storyline I was working on before
04:23was like an expose of the industry.
04:25But in time, my film kept sitting in dormant stage.
04:31So, you know, I just basically decided at one given point
04:36the film should be about me
04:37only because other people kept saying,
04:38I love that idea that you're doing,
04:40but someone should do a documentary on you.
04:42And that was the last thing I wanted
04:44because I was always someone
04:45who wanted to be behind the camera.
04:46I'm doing it because I've been asked to do it.
04:49And I feel a sense of responsibility about it.
04:52I didn't know I had such a story.
04:54Once I started seeing the footage
04:55and I understood what really contributions had been made.
04:59She is, to me, black history.
05:02And I tell people, once you meet this person,
05:06it's gonna change your life, whether you like it or not.
05:10I really feel like I've gotten it done before I go.
05:15That's what I feel like.
05:17Nothing more than that.
05:18The genius of it is that people respect
05:21and knew what I was doing.
05:22And I thought nothing of it.
05:23It was just like, you pick up the shovel,
05:27you dig the dirt, you make the hole,
05:28you put the seed in it.
05:29That's how I was looking at everything I ever did.
05:31Everyone's talking about diversity and inclusion right now.
05:34That directly stems from the work that Bethann did.