Carolyn Phillips: Shattering the Glass Ceiling as a Bald, Woman of Color Model

Maryland is known for many things: its blue crabs, Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore, the birthplace of the United States of America’s national anthem, its role in American History, and its Fashion Week. Yes, that’s right! Maryland Fashion Week is “the only Fashion Show in the world where kids and full figure models are included on the same runway as the petite models” (Europa Regina, 2020). Some of our Nation’s top fashion models are from Baltimore and Maryland, for instance, actress and former model Nicole Ari Parker, Miss America runner-up Nana Meriwether, America’s Next Top Model contestant Isis King, Miss Teen USA 2010 Kamie Crawford, IMG Models’ Lameka Fox, and freelance model Carolyn Marie Phillips.

Photographer: Barry Page

Walk in Over 100 Fashion Shows

For decades, Carolyn Marie Phillips made her mark in the fashion industry by being booked to walk in more than 100 fashion shows including New York Fashion Week (NYFW), Stomp the Runway for Autism, FBI Show, Super Bowl Fashion Show, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Fashion Show, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Fashion Show. She also has appeared on New York City’s billboard for Dove soap.

Carolyn has been featured in over 25 magazines and has hosted the Bald, Beautiful and Bold Benefit Fashion Shows (2018 fundraiser for “I Am More Than My Hair” film and bald awareness campaign and in 2019 fundraiser for alopecia, cancer and domestic violence). As a notable, professional model, she has served as brand ambassador for several designers, and collaborated with many notable photographers across the globe. Carolyn has walked for and collaborated with designers from her hometown, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Connecticut, New York, California, and beyond the US borders.

Just imagine the fashion industry in the 1960s and 1970s. Modeling agencies, designers, and magazine editors looked for one type of body, face and skin color. The fashion industry back then was not known for its diversity. To help address the
racial divide in fashion, the traveling Ebony Fashion Fair created an a much needed fashion show showcasing Black models, designers of color, and putting elegant fashions within reach of African Americans from 1958 to 2009.

Slowly Black models began to break through the racial divide in the fashion industry. Groundbreakers included Pat Cleveland, Grace Jones, Iman, and one of Carolyn’s model icons, Beverly Johnson. Beverly Johnson became the first Black woman to grace the cover of American Vogue in 1974 (Okwodu, 2016), which
cracked the fashion’s glass ceiling. Like the known groundbreakers, Carolyn too decided to start her career as a model at the age of 19 in 1970. Prior to the 1970s, like other Black girls growing up the United States of America, Carolyn did not find brown skin tone women in the fashion magazines until a few Black supermodels started appearing in fashion magazines and on the runways for preeminent designers.

Like other Black model pioneers, Carolyn also paved the way for bald women and any person of color interested in modeling. Although the fashion industry is slowly evolving to embrace diversity with skin tones, hairstyles, sexualities, and body types, there’s still ageism in the industry. At the vibrant age of 69, Carolyn continues to model defying the odds and
paving the way for models who are bald, women of color, and over 50. Today, I am honored to interview my fellow baldie, model sister, and friend, Carolyn.

Photographer: Jim Davis

Tell the world about Carolyn Marie Phillips. Carolyn Maria Phillips

(CMP): I was born in the early 1950s to Mr. & Mrs. Steve and Rosie Joyce in Montgomery County, Maryland but reared in Howard County, Maryland. I am a wife, mother, grandmother, and a model. I have two sisters and one brother. My mother, father, and brother are deceased. I am a Christian first who truly believe in God and his word.

 

What motivated you to model?
CMP: The love of wearing beautiful clothing, looking good in what I wear, and seeing black models such as Beverly Johnson and Cynthia Baily on the runway. The way Beverly and Cynthia command the runway was amazing to me.

 

 Describe your first fashion show.
CMP: My first experience was at Turf Valley Country Club in Ellicott City, Maryland when I was 19 years of age. As I have done before the start of every show, I prayed to God and then walk in faith. Yes, I was nervous; however, I knew at that very moment that I wanted to do this all the time.

Photographer: Barry Page

When you started modeling, what were some things you learn that helped and motivated you to continue to model?

CMP: Show respect, walk in love even when it wasn’t easy to do so, show the world that this woman of color who is good as any other race who models, and to never give up on my dreams and goals no matter what. In addition, my faith in God motivated me to continue modeling. Seeing Beverly Johnson on the covers of Vogue and Glamour magazines also inspired me in the 1970s. In the 1980s, Naomi Campbell became the first Black woman on the covers of the French and British Vogue magazines and boldly speaking about her career of defying the odds and advocating for Black models also inspired and motivated me to continue modeling. With God on my side, I had the strength and courage to accomplish my personal goals.

Photographer: Barry Page

What are some of your goals as a model?

CMP: Take the runway full force, be a top model, walk like no one else beside myself, be a role model for others, and to treat models how I would want to be treated. To continue to continue to shatter the fashion’s glass ceiling that Beverly broke, I launched Mahogany’s Rainbow Models, a modeling group, in 1980 after not getting cast because I was “too old”. At the time, I was 30 years of age with my 10-year-old daughter.

What are some of your goals as a model? Continuing.
CMP: When I selected girls and women for my Mahogany Rainbow Models, ‘self confidence’ was the most important requirement, not a pretty face, high cheekbones, or age like traditional modeling agencies. In 1980, the Mahogany Rainbow Models did six shows in Baltimore and Howard County in Maryland and we grossed $1,000. We were awesome and had so much fun; and to this day we are still close friends. The group dissolved when we got married and start our families.

 What are some of your most memorable moments modeling? 
CMP: I’ve been blessed to have many memorable moments. Some that come to mind include always wanting to meet Beverly Johnson; and I did since I modeled in her show. In addition, I modeled for the one and only B Michael. B Michael started designing hats under Oscar de la Renta, Louis Feraud, and Nolan Miller for Dynasty, a 1980s television soap opera; and in 1989, he launched his namesake millinery line and later launched his first couture collection in 1999. Another dream came true when I saw my face on the Time Square Billboard in NYC for Dove soap. Being featured in my first magazine.

 

How do you see the fashion industry today compared to when you started modeling? 
CMP: “Not much has changed…there’s still racism and ageism in the Fashion Industry. In addition, models are not always paid for their time and some do not receive their images.”

 

What are some of your challenges you see in the fashion industry and how do you cope?
CMP: As a child of God, I show no partiality; however, I encounter ageism and racism. When I encounter these challenges, I accept it as God’s will not to be part of that specific opportunity and have faith that other doors will open. I’ve learned that people will be who they are, and I cannot change people’s hearts or minds. Therefore, I listen to God and walk in faith.
 

Who are some of your favorite designers?  
CMP: B Michael, Sehar Peerzada, Jacqueline Chase Hudson, Jermaine Pratt, and Andrea Travis. These designers were so loving, respectful, put the best designs on me and told me I was amazing.

 

What does fashion do for you?
CMP: Make me look and feel like I am a top model. I enjoy looking great on and off the runway.

 

What is fun and rewarding about modeling for you?
CMP: Getting to wear the best designs, walking with other top models, and working with some amazing photographers.

 

What are you most passionate about in general? 
CMP: Serving God, my family, my friends, and modeling.

Have you been busy during the pandemic?
CMP: Yes, I’ve been featured in six (6) magazine; and three (3) of them I was on the front cover. In addition, I’ve collaborated with photographers and designers for their websites. I am also a brand ambassador for Adrien Leach boutique in Atlanta, Georgia.
Share some words of encouragement for models and aspiring models over 40 years of age. 
CMP: Age is just a number, beauty if forever, and don’t let anyone take what God has given to us.

 

Share some words of encouragement for female models.
CMP: Trust God, love yourself and respect yourself and others. Be the best you can be, walk in love no matter what, listen to your heart in all that you do, and don’t let anyone tell you are not good.

Picture of By Dr. Bonita Best
By Dr. Bonita Best

Dr. Bonita Best is a proacademic in which she an active practitioner in the information technology (IT) field and an academic. Dr. Best earned a Doctorate in Business Administration and has helped other working-adult students with their academic goals as well as professionals with their career goals. Social Media Facebook: @BoTheModel | Instagram: @Bo_TheModel.

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