The First Black Woman to Grace a FashionMagazine Cover
BY KEREN BEYA @KEREBEAR_5
It took nearly 100 years of fashion covers for the fashion industry to break ground for African American women everywhere. At a time when the world was in the grip of the civil rights and black power movements, placing a black woman on the cover was a turning point in the industry and America as a whole, and that is exactly what Glamour accomplished.
Glamour was the first predominantly white legacy American magazine to feature an African American lady on its cover. Katiti Kironde, the daughter of Uganda’s first Ambassador to the United Nations, was the woman to grace the glamorous Glamour’s college edition as a freshman at Harvard in August 1968. She knew she was beautiful, but just because her beauty was “different” and not appreciated by the fashion industry, she accepted the risk of entering Glamour’s “Best Dressed College Girls” competition, which she won. The issue was a watershed moment for the fashion industry and African Americans, breaking sales records and being Glamour’s best-selling issue.
Wendy Naugle, an executive editor of Glamour, stated in an interview, “Before the issue hit stands, there were some fears this could hurt sales. But more than 2 million copies were sold--making it the best-selling cover in the then-29-year history of the magazine. The cover sparked controversy, and Glamour received angry letters. But the positive response far outweighed those--not just the cover sales, but the grateful and passionate letters we received from all kinds of women across the country, in every profession.”
Kironde followed a career in fashion after graduating, working for prominent companies such as Laura Ashley and T.J Maxx, further establishing herself in the industry for over three decades, concentrating in design and manufacturing. Along with her husband, architect William Winder, she later started her clothing brand, Katiti, which only offered a variety of the perfect white button- down shirt. She also conducted a non-credit freshman course at Harvard University’s first-ever Introduction to Fashion class in 2010.
As the co-founder of the Kironde Education and Health Fund, Katiti continues to uphold her ancestor’s legacy of improving health and education in Uganda, doing her bit to improve the quality of life for people in need. Looking back, it is amazing to see how far the fashion industry—and the whole culture—has come in recognizing and supporting the concept of black beauty. While we can see that the industry still has a long way to go, diversity and inclusivity are on many people’s thoughts; fifty years ago, it was not even a topic of discussion.