I love an afro. And I love a woman who’s badass enough to wear an afro bigger than her head. I love the crowning glory of it. I love how modern and fresh an afro looks, even as it references an earlier era when women like Angela Davis and Alice Coltrane sported afros that dared you, in Davis’s case, to declare them anything but beautiful, or in Coltrane’s case, that beckoned you close to experience her beauty as well as your own.
The afro was the quintessential emblem of the Black Is Beautiful era. It reminded the entire world that, as Seal sang, “every single one of us is beautiful”, whatever the color of our skin or the texture of our hair.
And now for a few of my favorite fros:
DJ, musician, wife, mother, actress and model Solange Knowles (pictured above and below), whose new album True is getting rave reviews.
Stylemaker, ad campaign model and editor of Wonderland magazine, Julia Sarrs-Jamois.
The young Grammy winning musicians Corinne Bailey Rae and Esperanza Spaulding (far right).
The iconic Angela Davis.
The afro-sporting pop art goddess of the Black Panther Party.
PHOTOGRAPHY (top to bottom) BY ELIAS TAHAN via Vogue.com, via My Damn Blog, via JuliaSarrJamoisLove.Tumblr.com, via Unknown, via Unknown, via the Collection of the Oakland Museum
Tags: Afros, Alice Coltrane, Angela Davis, Black Panther Party, Corinne Bailey Rae, Esperanza Spaulding, Julia Sarr-Jamois, Solange Knowles, Style, Style Stories
