Dorothea Church

Dorothea Church on the cover of the April 16, 1953 issue of JET magazine

Dorothea Towles Church (July 26, 1922—July 7, 2006) was the first successful black fashion model in Paris.

Early life

Church was born in Texarkana, Texas. She was the seventh of eight children in a farming family.

She attended Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, where she majored in biology. After her mother's death, a wealthy uncle invited her to move into his house in Los Angeles. She transferred to the University of Southern California, where she received a master's degree in education. Church is of African American descent.

Modeling career

Church initially considered an acting career, but was discouraged by the lack of roles for black actors. She enrolled in the Dorothy Farrier Charm and Modeling School in Los Angeles.

She found work modeling for magazines with a black readership and in fashion shows on the West Coast.

Her sister, Lois Towles, sang in the Fisk University concert choir during its European tour in 1949. Church scheduled a two-month vacation in Paris that coincided with the Fisk choir's concert schedule. While in Paris, Church decided to try out for some modeling assignments. Christian Dior hired her on the spot to replace one of his regular models who was out on vacation.^[1]

Church found Paris so inviting that she decided to stay in France. She told her husband, a wealthy dentist several years her senior, that she wouldn't be returning to California. "He wrote me and even called me, but I told him I wasn't coming back," she said. "He finally got tired, and then he got a lawyer and sued for divorce."

Church also designed her own gowns with samples she bought from Paris designers using her model's discount.

In 1954 she returned to the United States and began a tour of black colleges, showcasing her couture line. Her fashion shows served as fund-raisers for Alpha Kappa Alpha, a sorority for black women.

She later signed as a model with the Grace del Marco agency in New York City. Shortly after moving to New York she met Thomas Church, an immigration lawyer. They married in 1963 and had one son. They remained married until Thomas Church's death in 2000.

Racial Barriers

Church was revered in France during the five years she modeled in Paris. "If you're beautiful, (the French) don't care what color you are," Church said.

Church recalled her experience in Paris of the early 1950s in a 2004 interview for Women's Wear Daily: "For once I was not considered black, African American or Negro. I was just an American." The French fashion establishment "treated you like a queen," she said.

In her 1998 book Black and Beautiful, author Barbara Summers quotes Church about her celebrity status in Paris at the beginning of the 1950s: "I got invited out all the time. I was the only black model in Europe and I just thought I was an international person."

Church was not totally immune to prejudice in Paris, however. Pierre Balmain wouldn't allow her to borrow his designs for an Ebony Magazine shoot out of concern Balmain's white clientele would be offended.

"They didn't think that African American women would buy the clothes, that they could buy the clothes," Church told Summers. "That's where my education and my experience came in. I knew about black history and black society."

Instead, Church told Balmain she wanted to wear the dresses to a party. The photographs later were published in Ebony.

While on a modeling assignment for Elsa Schiaparelli, Church overheard someone describe her as Tahitian.

Death

Church died at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City. Her death was attributed to heart and kidney disease.

Trivia

Church was the first black student at the Dorothy Farrier school in Los Angeles.

She once dyed her hair silver platinum at the request of Christian Dior.

She will be featured in the Black Style Now exhibition, opening September 7, 2006 at the Museum of the City of New York.

References

1. ^ Wilson, Eric (July 23, 2006). "Dorothea T. Church, 83, Pioneering Model, Dies". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/23/nyregion/23church.html. Retrieved 12 October 2010. 

External links

• Rourke, Mary. (2006, July 26). Dorothea Church, 83; First Black Model to Work for French Designers. The Los Angeles Times

Persondata
Name	Church, Dorothea
Alternative names
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Date of birth	1922
Place of birth
Date of death	2006
Place of death