As the first Black model to grace the cover of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, a muse to Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali and a film star, Donyale Luna’s life story was ready made for Hollywood. So how did the statuesque beauty who broke down barriers go unknown for years?
A new documentary on her life sheds light on that, unearthing the racism she faced in the fashion industry and the high-profile gatekeepers who tried to stop her career. “Donyale Luna: Supermodel," streaming now on Max, is a powerful retelling of the life and death of the otherworldly supermodel who captivated the fashion world when white beauty standards were the only standards and 1960s America was rife with racial inequality.
