African American Models - Story of a forgotten Black Male Supermodel - Renauld White

Invisible Models

Here's a profile of fashion pioneer and Black Male Supermodel, Renauld White. You probably have never heard of him. Renauld recently celebrated his 68th birthday and was the first Black male model to grace the cover of GQ Magazine.

But,  the road has been anything but easy. Black models are under represented on the runway.

Exclusion hurts

What was life like before modeling?  I was an overweight kid.  I had low self esteem, almost no self esteem.  I was weighing about 205 -210, I was about 6’1.  It was a process, a physical and mental transition, an awakening…all these things.  I thought maybe I’d be an art teacher.  But I played football for a year.  Never got into basketball, but I wish I would have.  But all through high school my buddy Joe and I would always obsess over what we would wear.  Joe was a smooth brother.  He had it together. 

I come from a broken home.  I have a mother that’s an angel.  I love her to death even now, and she’s been gone for a long time.  She just gave me such great tools to carry me through life.  The funny thing is that she was a model in Newark.  She was beautiful.  My dad was tall and handsome, he came out the war and was in Chicago.  Someone walked up and gave him a card, and asked him if he’d be interested in modeling.  He declined, because he just got out of the army and had to get a job to take care of his family.

Read the interview: The Tall Guy's Gear Guide