Beverly Johnson

Over the past 50 years, the U.S. population has become increasingly diverse: According to the most recent census, 36% of the American population now identifies as non-Caucasian--that's in comparison to just 16% in 1970. The idea of what it means to be American and to look American this July 4, 2013, is vastly different than the July 4ths of half a century ago. So how has this changed the American beauty ideals, and, by default, the American modeling industry?

Last night I got to attend what turned out to be one of my favorite fashion events ever: The NYC premiere of the HBO documentary About Face: Supermodels Then and Now. After seeing a few trailers (here and here), I couldn't wait to see the film. (You can catch the broadcast premiere Monday July 30 at 9pm on HBO.) Photographer and director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders told us he got the idea for the movie after he attended a cocktail party with a group of models from the 70s and 80s. After doing a shoot with them, he realized that there was a story there, so contacted others (going back to the 50s and 60s) to see if they would work with him--and no one had any hesitations. Models like Isabella Rossellini, Beverly Johnson, Jerry Hall, Carmen dell'Orefice and many more ended up in the final product. Some of these modeling legends, like China Machado, Carol Alt, and Beverly Johnson, hit the red carpet at the Paley Center for Media last night to share their memories as well as opine about the modeling industry now.