Softness In Print
From the late 1930s through the 1970s, when mainstream magazines often ignored or distorted the image of Black women, publications like Ebony, Jet, Hue, Color, and Candid offered something different: affirmation. These periodicals placed Black women at the center—celebrating their elegance, beauty, grace, and style during a time when such representation was rare.
This panel highlights how Black print media created space for softness, glamour, and joy. Through cover portraits, fashion spreads, and lifestyle features, these magazines showed readers—especially young Black girls—that tenderness, refinement, and admiration were not reserved for others. They were always ours.
Recommended Reading for Softness in Print
Fashion Icons & Modeling
Reynolds, Marcellas. Supreme Models: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion. New York: Abrams Image, 2019.
Profiles of trailblazing Black models whose beauty and artistry transformed global fashion. Reynolds positions print images as sites of both softness and strength, where presence challenged exclusion.
Stanfill, Sonnet, et al., eds. Naomi in Fashion: Naomi Campbell. London: V&A Publishing, 2024.
A tribute to supermodel Naomi Campbell, featuring essays and photography documenting her career. The collection frames her in print as both an image of softness and an icon of formidable strength.
WWD; Tonya Blazio-Licorish; Tara Donaldson; with foreword by Tracy Reese. Black in Fashion: 100 Years of Style, Influence & Culture. New York: Union Square & Co., 2024.
An archival history from Women’s Wear Daily charting Black designers, models, and tastemakers. It underscores fashion print as testimony to Black creativity and resilience.
Photography & Visual Culture
Gainer, Nichelle. Vintage Black Glamour. New York: Rocket 88 Books, 2014.
An archive of rare photographs featuring Black actors, models, and entertainers. Gainer’s curation celebrates timeless elegance, glamour, and the print archive as a site of cultural affirmation.
Lavette, Lavaille. Ebony: Covering Black America. New York: Rizzoli, 2021.
A coffee-table history of Ebony magazine, with iconic covers and features spanning decades. It highlights the role of glossy print in shaping visions of joy, style, and cultural leadership.
McLemore, LaMonte, with Chris Murray. Black Is Beautiful: JET Beauties of the Week. New York: Rizzoli, 2024.
A photographic retrospective of JET magazine’s iconic “Beauties of the Week” feature. This collection shows how images of Black women in print became cultural touchstones of beauty and pride.
Willis, Deborah. Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present. New York: W.W. Norton, 2009.
A landmark photographic collection that charts evolving representations of African American beauty. Willis highlights how photography both reinforced and challenged stereotypes, reframing softness and elegance as cultural power.
Willis, Deborah, and Carla Williams. The Black Female Body: A Photographic History. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002.
This volume examines artistic and popular images of Black women, analyzing themes of visibility, desire, and control. It situates softness in print as both vulnerable and revolutionary.
"The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are."
— Viola Davis