1. Naomi Ruth Sims was an American model, businesswoman and author.
16 Facts About Naomi Sims
1. 2.
Naomi Sims is widely credited as being one of the first African-American supermodels.
3.
Naomi Sims was born in Oxford, Mississippi, the youngest of three daughters born to John and Elizabeth Naomi Sims.
4.
Naomi Sims was teased for her height of 5'10 at the age of 13.
5.
Elizabeth Sims later moved with her three daughters to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Naomi's mother was forced to put her child into foster care.
6.
Naomi Sims began college after winning a scholarship to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, while taking night classes in psychology at New York University.
7.
Naomi Sims became one of the first successful black models while still in her teens, and achieved worldwide recognition from the late 1960s into the early 1970s, appearing in popular fashion magazines such as Vogue, Vogue Italia, and Cosmopolitan.
8.
Naomi Sims frequently collaborated with photographers Anthony Barboza, Richard Avedon, Francesco Scavullo, Irving Penn, and William Helburn and Berry Berenson.
9.
Naomi Sims appeared on the cover of the October 17,1969, issue of Life magazine.
10.
Naomi Sims ultimately decided to go into the beauty business for herself.
11.
Naomi Sims retired from modeling in 1973 to start her own business, which created a successful wig collection fashioned after the texture of straightened black hair.
12.
Findlay and Naomi Sims caused a stir as Findlay was white and interracial marriage in 1973 was still considered taboo.
13.
Findlay and Naomi Sims were both profiled separately in the February 1,1970, issue of Vogue before they met and married.
14.
Naomi Sims died of breast cancer on August 1,2009, aged 61, in Newark, New Jersey.
15.
Naomi Sims's funeral was held at the Church of St Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan.
16.
Naomi Sims was survived by her son, Bob Findlay, a grandson, and her elder sister, Betty Sims.