Naomi Sims featured on the cover of "Fashions of The Times" from The New York Times, August 27, 1967. Photograph by Gösta Peterson.

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Naomi Sims Gap Ad in Harpers Bazaar March 1993

The cover of Life magazine features a portrait of African American fashion model Naomi Sims as she poses, topless, with a elaborate hairstyle that winds around her neck, accompanined by the headline Black Models Take Center Stage, October 17, 1969. (Photo by Yale Joel/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Naomi Sims x Warhol Cover 1972

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Coming Soon

Naomi Sims (March 30, 1948 – August 1, 2009) was one of the first Black supermodels. Born in Oxford, MS, Sims grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. She graduated from Westinghouse High School in Homewood and moved to New York City to attend New York University and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She was the first Black model to grace the covers of The New York Times, Fashions of the Time in 1967, Ladies’ Home Journal in 1968, and Life Magazine in 1969. In 1972, she landed on the cover of Interview magazine with Warhol. Sims wrote four books on health and beauty, and founded a cosmetic and wig company.