About — BETHANN HARDISON (2024)

early CHILDHOOD

Born and raised in New York, Bethann, a latchkey kid, grew up in pre-gentrified Bedford-Stuyvestant. She was raised by her mother and grandmother who were domestics. At the age of 12 she went to live with her father, a supervisor at the Albany Housing Projects in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and a respected orthodox Muslim Imam who was an advisor to Elijah Muhammad as well as a mentor to Malcolm X. After graduating from George W. Wingate High School where she ran track and became the first Black cheerleader, she attended New York University’s Art School and the Fashion Institute of Technology. Despite not completing her degree at either institution, FIT’s merchandising program pointed her toward a career in fashion.

The Model

After a short stint as a long-distance telephone operator, Bethann began her career in fashion in the 60s at Cabot, a custom button factory, in New York's Garment District.During an era where suits and coats were big business Bethann, who was deemed by her boss to be too stylish to work in the factory, was tasked with showcasing Cabot’s merchandise to design houses who would match the painted buttons with their fabrics. From there, she went on to work for Marty Gutmacher before landing at Ruth Manchester Ltd. a junior dress company where she became the first Black salesperson in a showroom. One day while delivering samples for an upcoming fashion show to Bernie Ozer, the head of the junior dress department for Federated Stores, she told him, "If you really want a great show, you'll have me in it." Federated was the largest and most profitable department store company making Bernie one of the biggest influences in the garment industry. Retailers such as Bloomingdale's, Abraham & Straus, Foley’s, Sanger and Filene’s all relied on Bernie’s shows to determine what clothing to carry in their stores each season. Bernie would go on to book Bethann, marking the beginning of her modeling career. Shortly thereafter, in 1967, she was discovered by designer Willi Smith while making her sales rounds and became his fitting model and muse. Willi introduced Bethann to Bruce Weber, a former model and fledgling photographer at the time, who would shoot Bethann every weekend. Very skinny with close-cropped, natural hair, dark skin and doe eyes, Bethann looked quite different from the fashion model of that time most of whom were lighter skinned with medium-length or long, flowing tresses. Her unique beauty and performance-based approach to runway, which stemmed from her experience as a child tap dancer, would lead to work for other designers such as Anne Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Calvin Klein, Perry Ellis, Issey Miyake, Kenzo, Ungaro, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, and Claude Montana.

On the heels of the “Black is beautiful” movement, the Black model flourished. Along with Beverly Johnson, Iman and Pat Cleveland, Bethann broke new ground for models of color in the industry as one of a handful of Black models in the early 1970s favored by top European and New York designers. In 1973 she was cast in the historic Battle of Versailles. Conceived by famed fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert, Francois de la Renta, and Gerald Van der Kemp, the event began as a fundraiser for the restoration of the Palace of Versailles’ Marie Antoinette Theater. The competition that emerged pitting five American designers against France’s lions of haute couture catapulted American designers and models of color onto the world stage. It was Hardison, one of the eleven models of color, and her contemporaries whose uninhibited, energetic performance helped the U.S. designers steal the show. During Stephen Burrows’ segment Bethann proudly marched to the end of the runway, threw the train of her woven, canary-yellow dress to the ground, stood still and defiantly stared into the audience. As she stood unmoving at the end of the runway, the crowd, filled with celebrities and the social elite, went wild, cheering, stomping and tossing their programs into the air signaling the Americans' victory over the French.The sheer simplicity of the Americans’ presentation in contrast to the elaborate production of the French and the Americans’ use of music while the models sashayed down the runway, which had never been used for fashion shows in Europe previously, left an indelible mark on the Europeans. The Battle of Versailles forever changed fashion by giving the industry a new perspective on style and beauty. Less than a year after the show Beverly Johnson became the first Black woman to appear on the cover of American Vogue and European designers such as Hubert de Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent, began showing their collections increasingly on Black models.

During her successful stint as a model, Bethann also worked as an assistant to Stephen Burrows who was one of the American designers she walked for in The Battle of Versailles. She would eventually go on to run his studio. Throughout the mid to late 70s, Bethann continued her transition from model to businesswoman as a freelance creative director and producer for Bill Kaiserman, Kansai Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, and Valentino Couture.Her work with Valentino Couture led Manifattura Tessile Ferretti, who was the swimwear licensee for many of the top Italian designers during that time, to commission Bethann to design swimwear for the brand Ibiza. Although she would go on to explore other ventures, Bethann’s work for Ibiza created a visual aesthetic that is still identifiable in today’s swimwear market.

The AGENT

In 1980, shortly after one of her Ibiza swimsuits appeared on the cover of GQ, Bethann joined the newly formed Click Models where she helped revolutionize the modeling industry. During her tenure at Click she represented a teenage Whitney Houston, Talisa Soto, Tahnee Welch, and Elle Macpherson. From the beginning, Click redefined the image of the model by providing an alternative to the Nordic blonde-haired, blue-eyed standard of beauty that had dominated fashion, popularized by legacy agencies such as Ford and Wilhemina. Click became known for unconventional beauties representing female models with "odd" or "exotic" looks. Their male models such as Buzzy Kerbox were all-American athletes on the one hand, and, on the other, they introduced a new sensuous, ambiguous masculinity represented by models such as Attila von Somogyi - both of which represented a major departure from the formal gentleman that dominated the industry for decades prior. Collectively on the men's and women's front, this new look which Bethann was instrumental in developing, became the defining image of the iconography for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Perry Ellis, the agency's top clients.

Prompted by her colleagues and models to venture out on her own, in 1984 Bethann left Click and formed her own namesake agency Bethann Management where she continued challenging prevailing notions of beauty. Her company opened its doors with 7 models. The agency eventually grew to represent 75 models, including white, Black, Latin, and Asian men and women. Veronica Webb, one of Bethann's early discoveries, continued to break barriers for models of colors with clients such as Comme des Garçons, Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Calvin Klein, Kenzo, Issey Miyake, Vogue Italia, Elle, and Marie Claire. Veronica would go on to become the first African-American to land a major cosmetics contract. Bethann again made fashion history by signing Tyson Beckford, who would quickly become the most famous male model in history, to an exclusive contract with designer Ralph Lauren. It was the first contract of its kind ever to be given to a Black male model. Bethann Management's roster also included Bethann's son Kadeem Hardison who starred in the iconic 90s sitcom A Different World, Bonnie Berman, Josie Borain, Roshumba, Kimora Lee Simons, singer Brandy, T-Boz from TLC, and Treach from Naughty by Nature.