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From the category archives:
Non Themed Posts
She was told she’d never be on the cover of Vogue. She proved them wrong. Beverly Johnson speaks to CNN’s Don Lemon.
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True Beauty: Secrets of Radiant Beauty for Women of Every Age and Color
One of the world’s top models, the first African American to appear on the cover of Vogue, reveals her beauty secrets, offering a unique program for stress reduction, nutrition, exercise, and more that offers helpful information for everyone.
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Beverly Johnson was a 21-year-old ingenue sleeping on a mattress on the floor of her midtown Manhattan apartment when she went into the photo studio with legendary photographer Francesco Scavullo 35 years ago this month.
The atmosphere, she remembers, was “magical.” “You could kind of feel it in the air during the shoot,” says Johnson. “I knew it was going to be a good picture.
But the rising model was stunned when she learned that an image from the session — of her in a simple, powder blue sweater and a Mona Lisa smile — would become the cover of Vogue in August 1974, making her the magazine’s first black cover model.
Johnson became a poster child for the American civil rights movement practically overnight, her name mentioned in the same breath as that of the Rev. Jesse Jackson (who was, all of a sudden, calling her to discuss race relations in America).
“Everyone was like, ‘Do you understand the significance of this?’ ” recalls Johnson, now 56. “They were making the comparisons with Jackie Robinson and what he did for the baseball league.” At the time, she says, she was only vaguely aware of what they were talking about.
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For Beyoncé’s “Why Don’t You Love Me” video, whose idea was it to dub Beyoncé “B. B. Homemaker”?
(Laughs) As the project developed and progressed, new ideas started to come up. She came up with the name. As I was editing, she was like ‘Let’s do a “Leave It To Beaver” type intro’ and I edited that together. I started looking at all these shows and they all have those voiceovers. I loved in “Leave It To Beaver” [that] they would announce the actress’ names and then at the end they would say ‘The Beaver.’ Then I said, ‘Oh, you should be The Beaver’ and Beyoncé was like ‘No, Melina. I can’t be The Beaver’ (laughs). Then I was like let’s come up with like a cool name, and just off the top of her head she was like “I don’t know, B.B. Homemaker.”
How long did it take to shoot?
We shot for one day and prepped for like two or three weeks. It was just really chill. When we came back from Brazil shooting the other project, she said she was thinking about doing this video for a song she had and it was number one on the dance charts at some point. She said her and Solange wrote it. So it was nice because it all just came together. She really loved the whole Bette Paige idea. That’s where it kind of started. Then Bettie Page turned into Susie Homemaker slash frustrated housewife and we just decided to throw all that together.
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Melina-Matsoukas directed "Return The Favor" - Keri Hilson feat. Timbaland
1. “Dangerous” – Ying Yang Twins feat. Wyclef Jean
2. “Dem Girls” – Red Handed feat. Paul Wall & Scooby
3. “Modern World” – Anouk
4 “Not Fair” – Lily Allen
5. “Rude Boy” – Rihanna
6. “Why Don’t You Love Me” – Beyoncé
7. “Sex Therapy” – Robin Thicke
8. “I Decided” – Solange
9. “Hard” – Rihanna feat. Young Jeezy
10. “Good Good – Ashanti
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HONEY MAG: Why do you only go by Melina? Why don’t you go by your last name as well?
Melina Matsoukas: I’m actually going by both now. It’s one of those things that have to be translated onto whatever the network that my stuff is being played on. But it definitely started out that way, where I liked the one name Melina thing when I was doing videos, and then Melina Matsoukas when I was doing film and commercials. Then I kind of let that go, maybe in the past eight months. But I guess people are so used to seeing Melina that even when I write it in the credits Melina Matsoukas, it still just becomes Melina when I see it on T.V.
HONEY MAG: Okay, so why did you decide to get involved with film?
Well, I went to NYU and I was already big into photography from high school. I was studying math when I started. I was always kind of a good student — good at everything, but never really passionate about anything — and then I started meeting some of the film students and learning about the film program at NYU, which is a really a great program. My parents are both really political and vocal and progressive kind of people. I grew up in a very progressive kind of way where I wanted to say something, make change, affect people and change the world, so when I got to NYU and began meeting all the film students and learning about the film program, I felt it was the greatest way to speak out and make change. So, I took a film course to make sure I liked it, and I loved it. And then I enrolled in the film program and that’s how it started.
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