Invisible Beauty 2023 Movie Review Trailer

 Progress against systemic injustice does not occur naturally, but is driven by sheer force of will, often by a radical visionary. In the case of racism in the fashion industry, that person is Bethann Hardison. A pioneering model in the 1970s, she became one of the top agents of the 1990s, when she discovered the first male supermodel Tyson Beckford and mentored Naomi Campbell and Iman. When fickle trends threatened to erase all of her hard work in the '20s, she boldly called out the industry's blatantly racist casting practices, sparking seismic change once and for all.

Hardison's remarkable and fabulous life serves as an inspiring lesson in how to achieve radical change from within the system, and her methods can be studied thanks to the fascinating new documentary "Invisible Beauty."

Directors: Bethann Hardison, Frédéric Tcheng
Writers: Bethann Hardison, Frédéric Tcheng
Stars: Tyson Beckford, Stephen Burrows, Naomi Campbell

Hardison serves as co-writer and director alongside prolific fashion documentarian Frédéric Tcheng (“Halston,” “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel”). Her presentation is fairly conventional, but there is so much information to offer that a simple approach seems appropriate. While it may seem unusual for a documentary subject to profile herself, the mere fact of the collaboration hints at the unstoppable force of nature in her sights.

Furthermore, Hardison is not the kind of established figure who calls for entirely subjective representation (if such a thing exists); She is an unsung heroine of the industry who deserves the overdue flowers from her. As a director, she doesn't gloss over the more painful aspects of her personal life, like her somewhat strained relationship with her son, “A Different World” star Kadeem Hardison.

The film opens with a parade of influential figures singing Hardison's praises: Tracee Ellis Ross, Zendaya, Whoopi Goldberg, and Fran Liebowitz appear briefly, though Iman, Campbell, Beckford, and a host of A-listers provide fuller analysis. Tcheng shot some of the film himself on intimate visits to Hardison's upstate abode, and the filmmakers are shown discussing how to present the richness of the material. "It all starts in Bedford Stuyvesant," Hardison says, before cutting to animated archival footage of the iconic Brooklyn neighborhood in the 1950s and '60s.

Although her years with him were marked by rigor, Hardison's father was an imam who mentored Malcolm X, and she credits him with radicalizing her. After attending FIT and NYU, she began working as a salesperson in the garment district, where she caught the attention of emerging black designer Willi Smith. Starting out as a fit model, her androgynous appearance and expressive personality earned her spots on the catwalks of the '70s, where she walked alongside Beverly Johnson, Iman and Pat Cleveland.

Although fashionable in New York, Hardison and her contemporaries sometimes felt hostility from European and Southern buyers. Elaborating on her characteristic defiant walk as a protective shield, she cites Kurosawa's films as her earliest influences: "she always thought of Samurai when she walked."

Galvanized by fashion's abysmal racial politics, Hardison turned to recruiting and representation to gain a broader reach in the industry. She launched Bethann Management Agency in 1984 and co-founded The Black Girls Coalition with Iman in 1988, both with the goal of supporting African American models. His agency was known for discovering the most interesting and dynamic models from diverse backgrounds, including Kimora Lee Simmons, Roshumba, Veronica Webb and Beckford. Countless interviews with industry experts emphasize Hardison's revolutionary impact on the fashion industry in the '90s.

However, after Hardison retreated to Mexico to plan his next move, the industry suffered a demoralizing retreat toward white homogeneity. Led by Prada and Calvin Klein, the predominance of unknown models from Eastern Europe led to the "heroine chic" style of the early aughts. In 2007, she hosted an explosive press conference decrying the blatant racism that had become an industry standard, with casting calls often stipulating: "Neither black nor ethnic." She followed up with what became known as "The List of Shame," a tally of high-profile designers who were guilty of underusing black models in their shows.

The film shares this information at a fairly rapid pace, and the parades and press conference footage have the air of a cultural artifact defined and preserved in real time. 

Watch Invisible Beauty 2023 Movie Trailer