MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
Unidentified Woman: Ladies, you have to know (unintelligible).
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NORRIS: Johnson was married to publishing titan John Johnson. They were both from Alabama. She was also the secretary-treasurer of the publishing company. And like Eunice Johnson, Andre Leon Talley is a giant of the fashion world. He's the editor-at-large for Vogue magazine, and he joins us now to talk about the legacy of Eunice Johnson. Welcome to the program.
ANDRE LEON TALLEY: Thank you, Michele.
NORRIS: At a time when black women had little access to the fashion world, in many places they couldn't even use the dressing rooms at department stores, Eunice Johnson brought the fashion world directly to them, right there in their communities. What were those Fashion Fair events like, especially in the early days?
LEON TALLEY: Mrs. Johnson was hands-on everything. I worked with her. I remember traveling with her to Paris, to Florence, to Milan, selecting the designs that she would showcase in the Fashion Fair.
NORRIS: Now, I understand in the early days, some of the designers did not want to sell their wares to her.
LEON TALLEY: That is true, but then, you know, increasingly, as people became more aware, particularly in the '60s, of the importance of the show, she had so much clout due to the passion of her vision, it just became a phenomenon that people had to embrace.
NORRIS: Mr. Talley, I have to ask you about Eunice Johnson's Fashion Fair line of cosmetics. There was a time when no matter where you were, if you went to a department store, there would always be a little bit of buzz at a certain space at the cosmetic counter where people, you know, always seemed to be a throng of people around that sort of pink Fashion Fair counter. What did that mean for women who lived in communities where it was hard for them to find makeup that matched their skin color?
LEON TALLEY: Well, it just meant that this was a lady who was thinking about their needs. It was Mrs. Johnson smart enough to take color and translate it to the needs of women of many hues. So when she did those coppery hues or those patinated bronzes or those bright, bright colors that once were very much part of the world of fashion, when Yves Saint Laurent was making a lipstick that was so cyclamen, fuchsia, pink-hot, bright, fuchsia, orange-red that everyone clamored for it. Mrs. Johnson translated that for the black woman.
NORRIS: Andre, do you have one last memory you'd like to leave us with?
LEON TALLEY: Yes, I'd like to leave you with the memory that Mrs. Johnson was an extraordinary, loving lady. The world of style not only was about the proper or the most extraordinary dress from Paris or jacket or sequined evening gown, she also was one of the first African-American women to have her own Picasso in her living room in Chicago. Mrs. Johnson wasn't above, you know, having a Picasso in her living room, but going straight into her kitchen, which was obviously state-of-the-art, and making a wonderful pound cake.
NORRIS: Andre Leon Talley, thank you so much for talking to us. What a pleasure.
LEON TALLEY: Thank you.
NORRIS: Andre Leon Talley is an editor-at-large for Vogue magazine. He was sharing with us his memories of Eunice Johnson, the founder of the Ebony Fashion Fair and the secretary-treasurer of the Johnson Publishing Company.