Fashion With cameras rolling, we are introduced to Hardison in her New York apartment, diligently working on her memoir while deciding on the tone and style of the documentary's introduction. Her story spans the breadth of her life from the early 1940s to present day and takes you on a journey, from her early years spending time in the rural south, where segregation was prevalent, to growing up as a latchkey kid in the pre-gentrified Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. In the early 1960s Hardison’s career in fashion began as a long-distance telephone operator at Cabot, a custom button factory in the garment district of New York City and eventually transformed into her becoming the first Black salesperson in a showroom while working at Ruth Manchester Ltd., a junior dress company. In 1967, she was discovered by the legendary Willi Smith, an African American designer and pioneer who popularized streetwear, and she became his muse and fitting model. Soon after, Hardison would expand to print and runway modeling, and in 1973 she became part of a historical moment in fashion when she participated in the Battle of Versailles, which was a fashion show initially designed to raise money for the Palace of Versailles’ Marie Antoinette Theater. The show was a competition of five American designers against “France’s lions of haute couture” and it revitalized the American fashion industry, showcasing American design from a new perspective, rivaling the French reputation for elegance and sophistication while challenging the perception of American fashion as casual and drab. In the film, Hardison, who describes herself as the first "Black, Black model,” reflects on her experience at the Battle of Versailles alongside 10 other Black models, which was unprecedented at the time. Every step she took was done with intention as she felt a great sense of responsibility to represent Black women in an industry where diversity was very limited. She recalls how she utilized her performance-based approach to runway modeling, stopping and staring boldly with presence at the audience for a long period of time. This caused the audience to become excited as they stomped their feet and screamed “Bravo, bravo!” Hardison’s work helped to break down barriers and pave the way for other Black models to become successful, and by the early 1980s Bethann’s focus shifted from modeling to activism within the fashion industry. She started her own agency — Bethann Management Agency — and focused on countering the invisibility of Black women as well representing a wide range of ethnicities in fashion, challenging traditional notions of beauty and diversifying the industry. Bethann represented and has been credited with helping to launch the careers of many including Veronica Webb, Tyson Beckford, Kimora Lee Simmons, Ariane Koizumi, and even her son and actor Kadeem Hardison, who played the popular role of character Dwayne Wayne in the '90s sitcom television series A Different World. In 1988, Hardison, along with Somali-American model Iman, co-founded the Black Girls Coalition as a way to celebrate and advocate for Black models while raising awareness for issues including homelessness. A couple years later, a report by The City of New York’s Department of Consumer Affairs was released and it revealed the fact that only 3.4% of all consumer magazine advertisements depicted African Americans. This prompted Hardison and the Black Girls Coalition to hold a press conference calling attention to the severe underrepresentation and lack of diversity in fashion magazines, runway shows and commercial advertising. By 1996, Hardison embarked on a 40 aphrochic
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