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WE REMEMBER DOROTHEA CHURCH: First successful black model in Paris dies at 83.
*Dorothea Towles Church, the first successful black model in Paris and a pioneer who made it possible for women of color to model at major European fashion houses, died July 7 at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York. She was 83.
Her death was confirmed by Michael Henry Adams, a curator at the Museum of the City of New York where Church is among those to be featured in an exhibition called "Black Style Now" opening on Sept. 7.
Born July 26, 1922, in Texarkana, Tex., Church was the seventh of eight children in a farming family and eventually broke down racial barriers in an industry that preferred white models to represent beauty. During the 1950s, Church work the runways for such designers as Christian Dior and Elsa Schiaparelli.
Church also studied biology at Wiley College in Marshall, Tex. She had plans to study medicine, but when her mother died, she accepted the invitation of a rich uncle to live with him in Los Angeles.
She completed a master's degree in education at the University of Southern California.
