The Forum is pleased to present Films at The Forum, our latest public program bringing free movie screenings to The Forum on a monthly basis. This February, in honor of Black History Month, we've partnered with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Columbia University's Institute for Research in African-American Studies (IRAAS) to present a special double-feature with screenings of Invisible Beauty (2023) on Friday, February 16 and Black is/Black Ain't (1994) on Friday, February 23.
The essential memoir of fashion pioneer Bethann Hardison, Invisible Beauty shines a spotlight on one of the fashion industry’s most influential icons who, as a pioneering Black model, modeling agent and entrepreneur, has pushed the boundaries of fashion culture and has been at the forefront of progress throughout her career.
A conversation with the film's co-director Bethann Hardison will follow the screening.
- Doors: 5:00 PM
- Screening: 5:30 PM
- Panel Conversation: 7:30 PM
This event is presented in collaboration with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Columbia University Institute for Research in African American Studies.
More About the Film:
The essential memoir of fashion pioneer Bethann Hardison, Invisible Beauty shines a spotlight on one of the fashion industry’s most influential icons who, as a pioneering Black model, modeling agent and entrepreneur, has pushed the boundaries of fashion culture and has been at the forefront of progress throughout her career. In her lifetime, the singular and unapologetic Hardison has seen the pendulum swing toward and away from the Black model. At every setback, she spoke up and rallied her colleagues and clients in the industry to advance change. Now in her 70s, the Brooklyn native is writing her memoir, taking stock of her own legacy at a moment when the fashion industry is shaken by a racial reckoning. Invisible Beauty, co-directed by Hardison and Frédéric Tcheng (Dior and I, Halston), traces her impact on fashion from runway shows in the 1970s to roundtables about the lack of racial diversity in the early 2000s. Featuring intimate interviews with luminaries including Iman, Tyson Beckford, Tracee Ellis Ross, Zendaya, Fran Lebowitz, Pat Cleveland, Naomi Campbell, and Stephen Burrows, Invisible Beauty is an absorbing record of the racial evolution of fashion and an original contemplation on the life of an unparalleled trailblazer.
