Sims, Naomi (1948—)

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Sims, Naomi (1948—)

Entrepreneur who was the first major African-American fashion model. Born on March 30, 1948, in Oxford, Mississippi; graduated from Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh; studied briefly at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology; married Michael Findlay (an art dealer); children: John Phillip.

Was the first African-American woman featured on the covers of major fashion magazines (late 1960s); founded the Naomi Sims Collection (1973); founded Naomi Sims Beauty Products (1985).

Naomi Sims was born on March 30, 1949, in Oxford, Mississippi. Her early childhood was marked by chaos and abandonment, as her father left the family when she was an infant, her mother suffered a nervous breakdown, and Sims and her sisters were separated after being sent to live with various relatives. Sims was raised by loving foster parents, but continued to battle the usual adolescent insecurities, which were magnified by a height (5'10" by the time she was 13) that would one day propel her to the pinnacle of modeling. The insecurity remained for years, but her self-reliance helped to transform her from a gangling adolescent into a striking teenager.

After graduating from Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh, Sims moved to New York City to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology. During college, she began modeling for a fashion illustrator at the rate of $6 per hour. Her modeling career received a boost after she boldly approached top fashion photographer Gosta Peterson, who hired her at a rate of $60 per hour. Finding the double demands of a growing modeling career and college studies too taxing, Sims left school to focus on her work.

Despite the tenfold increase in her modeling fees, she nonetheless went through weeks of unemployment, living on borrowed money from the modeling agency that was representing her. Sims therefore eagerly accepted a New York Times assignment that placed her on the cover of its Fashion of the Times supplement—the first for a black model. That cover photograph was to change the fashion industry and the national perception of beauty. Never before had a woman of such deep, rich color been used to exemplify beauty. Fashion designer Halston understood the significance of the exposure of Sims: "She was the great ambassador for all black people…. She broke down all the social barriers." Indeed, Sims became the first black model published on the covers and in the pages of such Anglo-American bastions of fashion as Vogue, Ladies' Home Journal, Life, and Cosmopolitan. She won such honors as the Model of the Year Award in 1969 and 1970, and earned a spot on the International Best-Dressed List for several years in the 1970s. Ladies' Home Journal named her one of its Women of Achievement in 1970; she received the key to the city of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1971; and the governor of Illinois proclaimed September 20, 1973, Naomi Sims Day.

Despite her tremendous success, Sims found modeling both shallow and boring. She left the profession while still a youthful 24, and turned her attention to establishing herself as an entrepreneur. Dissatisfied with the quality of wigs available to African-American women, Sims started a wig company in 1973. Its cornerstone product used a synthetic fiber called Kanekalon Presselle, which she invented and patented, that closely approximated the texture of black women's hair. The wigs in the Naomi Sims Collection became enormously popular and propelled her to higher levels of financial success.

In 1985, Sims formed another thriving company, Naomi Sims Beauty Products, with wares exclusively formulated for African-American women, sold throughout the United States and in the Bahamas. She served as chair of the board, and her continued business achievements brought more recognition, including an invitation to be executive-in-residence at the School of Business Administration of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Sims also wrote several books, all published by Doubleday, including All About Health and Beauty for the Black Woman (1975), How to Be a Top Model (1979), All about Hair Care for the Black Woman (1982), and All about Success for the Black Woman (1983). Married and the mother of one son, she has lectured on such subjects as sickle-cell anemia, education, and drug abuse, and served on the board of directors of the Northside Center Child Development in Harlem, New York.