Inspirational Icon of January

I started to think about how there aren't that many African American models in the industry. There are more now then there were at certain periods of time, but in the end they are a small percentage of the well known super models of our time. This brought me to think about my Inspiration for the month of January.

A lot of people may consider Beverly Johnson as the first African American supermodel, but this is not a fact. She was the first African American to grace the cover of American Vogue (August 1974). And she has helped set the standard for aspiring African American models. But to me the true first African American SUPER model was Peggy Anne Freeman better known as Donyale Luna.

Donyale (who graced the cover of the March 1966) cover of Vogue has a really intriguing back story.

Born 1 January 1945 in Detroit Michigan, Luna was always different. A relative has described her as "a very weird child, even from birth, living in a wonderland, a dream." This dream seemed to take her straight into her adult life.

Luna always seemed to live in a fantasy world. Although her birth certificate named her parents as Peggy and Nathaniel Freeman, Donyale always insisted that her biological father was a man with the surname Luna and that her mother was Mexican. According to the Donyale, one of her grandmothers was reportedly an Irishwoman who married a black interior decorator.


After being discovered by photographer David McCabe, Donyale moved from Detroit to New York. In 1967 Mannequin manufacturer Adel Rootstein designed a mannequin in Luna's image as a follow up to the 1966 Twiggy mannequin. Throughout the 60s' and the early 70' Donyale was big. She starred in numerous movies produced by Andy Warhol and in 1966, Time magazine declared that it was "The Year of Luna". She even had a spread the April 1975 issue of Playboy.

The reason for the decline in her career was her odd behavior. Beverly Johnson once said :

[Donyale] doesn't wear shoes winter or summer. Ask her where she's from -- Mars? She went up and down the runways on her hands and knees. She didn't show up for bookings. She didn't have a hard time, she made it hard for herself.

From the beginning you could tell Donyale had her inner demons. Because of her personal turmoils, Donyale never really wanted to be considered African American. She always had racial problems within herself. Journalist Judy Stone once asked her about whether her appearances in Hollywood films would benefit the cause of black actresses, Luna replied, "If it brings about more jobs for Mexicans, Chinese, Indians, Negroes, groovy. It could be good, it could be bad. I couldn't care less."

She also had a serious drug problem. In the late 60s she commented about LSD:
I think it's great. I learned that I like to live, I like to make love, I really do love somebody, I love flowers, I love the sky, I like bright colors, I like animals. [LSD] also showed me unhappy things -- that I was stubborn, selfish, unreasonable, mean, that I hurt other people."

On May 17, 1979 Donyale died in a hospital in Italy of a drug overdose.


Even with all her faults, I love Donyale. She set out to do something she always dreamed of, and achieved it even when people didn't believe in her. Which is why for the month of her birth i have to say that Donyale Luna is my Inspiration for the month of January.

Below are some of my favorite pictures of Donyale