by
Chinwe
Runway model and New Jersey native Kelly Gervais has always been proud of her culture. As the daughter of a Haitian father and African American and Cherokee mother, she was exposed to beauty in all shades through a beauty book she created with her mom.
“A lot of times you look at these high fashion magazines and you don’t see many of us, and my mom thought it was important to see that as I was developing as a model and finding my own. I [finally] had women that kind of looked like me to assure me that I wasn’t an anomaly and I could learn from the greats. We still have the beauty book, and I show it to my friends. It’s good memories because I remember creating it with my mom.” – Gervais in an interview with Yahoo
Because of this cultural pride, Gervais wanted to do something different from what she usually does on the American runway. She wanted to unleash her kinky afro for New York Fashion Week.
“I always had [my hair] long, straight, or in extensions. I’ve done great shows and have had success with that look, but I felt like I was blending in with everyone else and not standing out,” she said. “When I lived in London for about a year, I didn’t have anyone to do my hair, so my hair just started doing its own thing. People responded to it so positively, and I actually got even more work with my natural hair. So when I came back to New York, I thought, ‘OK, let me see if I can rock my natural hair and they’ll be as accepting.’” – Yahoo
Much to Gervais’ surprise, her booker at the time (now ex booker) told her she was not dark enough to pull off an afro.
“I didn’t even know how to take that or understand that. I’m a Haitian woman with Haitian hair. You can’t expect that just because I’m light-skinned, I’m going to have a Spanish curl. This is me and my natural essence, and why can’t people just be OK with that and not try to alter me to their standards of beauty?” – Yahoo
At this February’s New York Fashion Week, Gervais rebelled and rocked her afro for six shows, including that of Haitian Designer Pyer Moss.
Ladies have you ever had an experience where someone told you your skin color and hair texture don’t go together?
One Response
When I tried to get into modeling, I was told that I need to “do something” with my natural hair & that I need to “do something to make my hair more curly” by people who don’t know crap about our hair.
Also, I was told that I need to get a weave.