Ebonee Davis

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MARC JACOBS CELEBRATES #MARCTHENIGHT
Ebonee Davis, Duckie Thot and Slick Woods

 

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Calvin Klein Underwear Fall 2016 Campaign
Photographer: Patrick Demarchelier
Stylist: George Cortina
Hair: Didier Malige
Makeup: Diane Kendal
Set Designer: Piers Hanmer

 

source: fattongue

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Polaroids

 

source: models.com

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WATCH THIS FACE: EBONEE DAVIS

Ph. Tiffany Dawn Nicholson

 

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Every week, Bazaar's booking team highlights one name to note, from the industry's best-known faces to girls who are just starting out. This week, we turn our attention to Ebonee Davis.

The American newcomer – who has an almost-unbelievable figure, natural hair and a cool, collected demeanour – is one of only a handful of models (alongside Gigi Hadid, Hilary Rhoda and Irina Shayk) whose chameleon looks can be transformed from appearances in luxury editorials, where poise and delicacy are required, to the sexy world of Sports Illustrated. 

After a stint on America's Next Top Model, the 23-year-old catapulted to international success with brands such as Calvin Klein, Victoria's Secret and L'Oréal all falling in her favour. Davis has joined the ranks of top models expanding society's beauty standards; she penned a rare and honest open letter about race and diversity in the fashion industry.

 "Ebonee represents modern America and its broad diversity," said Mathias Pardo at MC2 Model Management. "Her level of intelligence joined with her stunning physical appearance sets her as real professional and communicative person to work with. Her recent Calvin Klein campaign and work for L'Oréal and MAC are glimpses into her future successes that are ramping up as she is a favourite of photographers."

We talked to Davis about music, dance classes and booking the Calvin Klein campaign twice.

How were you discovered?

"I wasn't discovered. I knew I wanted to be a model so it was something I set my focus on and really pursued. I researched local agencies in Seattle, my hometown, and went in for open calls. I signed with Seattle Models Guild at 18 and grew from there. Finding placements in New York wasn't easy. Agencies were very quick to say that they already represented a girl with 'my look'. But I kept trying until finally a door opened."

If you weren't modelling, which career would you pursue and why?

"If I wasn't modelling I would be graduating from the University of Washington. I completed a year there before moving to New York to pursue modelling full time. I hadn't decided on a major yet but doing something in the medical field has always been something of interest to me. I have always wanted to help people."

What would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?

"My biggest career moments have been shooting for Sports Illustrated, shooting for Victoria's Secret Pink with natural hair and booking the Calvin Klein campaign twice!"

How do you spend your free time?

"When I am off duty, I like to go out to eat with my friends, watch documentaries, visit museums and take day trips out of town. Being in nature is very soothing for me."

Do you have any travel tips for those visiting your hometown?

"The best part about being from Seattle is the food! Seattle's diverse culture makes it a really awesome place to explore food from many different regions of the world. Growing up I was exposed to so many different types of food and now it is a really big part of what I enjoy about travelling the world. If you're visiting Seattle, you should definitely check out Pike Place Market. Lots of fresh produce and fish down there. It's on the waterfront, so it's the perfect thing to do on a warm summer day."

What are the three products you can't live without?

"My DevaCurl shampoo and conditioner, Sonicare toothbrush and Dr Hauschka day cream."

What is your favourite form of exercise?

"I do a wide variety of things to stay in shape such as eating well, exercising my body and staying hydrated. In reference to working out, I like to try a wide variety of classes, particularly ones that allow me to learn a new skill. It keeps working out from getting boring and redundant. Dance classes are always a super-fun alternative to hitting the weights."

What is your dream shoot? 

"I want to shoot in as many tropical locations as possible. I would love to travel to Eastern Asia and venture deep into the jungle."

Name your essential items you wouldn't leave the house without…

"Cell phone, lip balm, headphones and a smile."

If you had to wear only one designer, who would it be?

"I don't think I can pick just one! I couldn't limit myself like that."

What kind of advice would you give to new girls to the industry?

"Don't allow others' expectations of who you should be control you. Be your most authentic self, because you're good enough just the way you are."

Is there a model's career that you admire and why?

"Career wise I have had numerous role models including Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, Jourdan Dunn, Chanel Iman and Arlenis Sosa. These women inspired me so much to get where I am now because they reassured me that there was a place for me in beauty and in fashion. On a personal level, anybody who does their job passionately is a role model for me. It's beautiful to see people doing what they love, that's all I really want for myself. Also, anybody who gives back. I look up to those who don't look down upon others."

Let's talk about favourites. What about…

…music? "So much good music! Odesza, Alina Baraz, Flume, Tupac, Drake, Aaliyah, Kendrick, Rihanna, the XX... my list is all over the place. I don't have one favourite artist or one favourite genre of music. I'm open to anything that makes me feel something."

…books? "To Be Young Gifted and Black by Lorraine Hansberry is an amazing book."

…movies? "The Lion King."

…food? "Ethiopian food." 

 

source: harpersbazaar.co.uk

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ebonee davis opens up about the realities of working as a black model in fashion

 

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Ebonee Davis has always dreamed of being a model. Scratch that: she wanted to be a supermodel — like the tall, thin blue-eyed, blonde-haired beauties she saw on billboards and TV. Born and raised in Seattle, Ebonee moved to NYC to pursue her dream after graduating from high school. At the time, Davis was told that black models either had to conform to Eurocentric standards of beauty (i.e. straight hair, parted down the middle) or instead embody a Westernized notion of the exotic. Basically, they had to be the right kind of black, otherwise they could kiss their careers goodbye. So she went along with the former until she could no longer take it, which is when she finally ditched her weave and wore her hair au natural. 

Two years later, she's already booked two campaigns for Calvin Klein, appeared in a short video for L'Oreal, and made her catwalk debut for Yeezy spring/summer 17. She also made waves last summer when she published an open letter to the fashion industry imploring designers, model agents, makeup artists, and magazines to change their attitudes when it comes to inclusivity and cultural accountability. Working towards her first ever TED Talk, we speak to the model turned activist about fashion, diversity, and remaining true to who you are.

Growing up, who were your role models?
I don't know if I had any role models in the fashion industry. The only prominent black models I remember growing up are Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell, and I couldn't really relate to them. They looked like life-size Barbies and I had kinky hair and brown eyes. Rappers and R&B singers were way more influential to me. I always loved Tupac, how outspoken he was, and how he used his platform to speak about social justice. I love Lauryn Hill for the same reasons. They are my role models for sure.

What was your relationship like with your appearance growing up and how has it changed over the years?
As a child I would look at myself for hours and think how much more beautiful I would be if my eyes were blue or green, or if my nose and lips were a little smaller, or if my hair grew a little longer; I hated the way I looked. Over the years, I spent thousands of dollars at salons getting my hair relaxed and straightened and thousands more on weaves and extensions to make my hair appear fuller and longer. Now I am proud of who I am and what I look like and I am very vocal about that pride. I realized that beauty doesn't have one definition.

What is most exciting part of working in fashion?
I'm excited whenever I get the opportunity to break down a wall or do something I was told I couldn't do.

What's been your most memorable career moment?
Seeing my Calvin Klein campaign on a billboard in Soho just months after being told by my agents that I would never get work with natural hair.

When you first started out as a model, you tended to conform to industry standards of beauty. How did it feel to compromise who you were?
I was told that the only black models in the industry who work either looked like they'd been plucked out of a remote village in Africa, or looked like a white model dipped in chocolate and since I wanted to work, I assimilated. I think the word kind of implied that I had some sort of "choice" in the matter— to cave in or to stand my ground. When in reality, I didn't. There was no alternative at the time. Either straighten my hair or don't work. That was the reality I faced.

What prompted you to write your open letter a year later?
The day Alton Sterling was murdered by police last summer I went home and wrote a letter to the fashion industry, emphasizing the duty fashion media has to help change the perception of black people. No longer could I remain silent; and I realized that existing simply wasn't enough. It is the same lack of value for black lives and refusal to see us as equal that excludes us from fashion and causes black women and men to be gunned down in the street.

What positive changes would you like to see in the industry?
Inclusion, understanding, and consciously creating imagery that represent all people. I want to see more models of color represented by agencies and more models of color on magazines and high-end fashion. I want to see more models of color on runways. I want the fashion industry to reflect what America actually looks like.

Diversity has become part of the cultural conversation like never before. Why do you think this is?
People are just ready for a change. I noticed a huge shift when Instagram got popular. People in the industry realized the power of hiring people who represent a broader definition of beauty. Also, the current state of our democracy. People are more open to having these sorts of conversations, it doesn't make sense not to.

Is there a danger of diversity becoming a trend, something cool that big brands can exploit for personal gain? Does it even matter if you're still disrupting the norm?
I sometimes worry that black people are just looked at as cash machines. American culture is black culture, we create so much of what becomes mainstream, and often our ideas and talent are exploited, especially because we don't have the same resources and power as large brands and corporations. I think we are looked at for our monetary value instead of our value as human beings so this presents a moral conflict for me — someone who has to work with brands but who also realizes that brands exploit labor and bank off of young black talent. 

I am happy, however, that I can be the reason why someone feels beautiful and represented and empowered. In being present in the industry, we are awakening people's consciousness. Black people and people of color who have been repressed for so long are now accepting who they are and with self-acceptance comes self-fulfillment. It's a double edged sword, but it won't be like this forever. Not if we continue at the rate we are going now — black people are creating their own opportunities and industries.

Why is it so important to use one's platform?
Because, as models and role models, we are responsible for how people view themselves and how people view the world. Whether we realize it or not we are influencing and shaping an entire generation of people and through creating and sharing conscious content, we can help to ensure that we are doing this in a positive way. Everybody has a story but not everybody has a voice or a platform, so we have to step up and be leaders and speak for those who are underrepresented, misrepresented, ignored, and bullied.

 

source: i-d.vice.com

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Ebonee Davis, Model & Activist

photographed by Tom Newton

 

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"Before I was a model I was a student at the University of Washington. I was just kind of fooling around with some pre-requisite classes and I took an ethics class which I loved. I was always interested in social stuff—not necessarily politcs, but ethics. Like, how do we treat one another? What does it mean to be a person of color in the world? That always really interested me and that class sort of solidified my interest. But I'd always wanted to be a model, and I went to an open call agency in Seattle and they signed me. Then, I left Seattle and moved to New York.

 

It was so rough in the beginning. When I got here, I went to every agency—'No, no, no, no,' over and over, or, ‘We already have a girl with your look,’ or ‘We don’t think there's room on our board for you...’ but I was young and determined and eventually I did get signed. I’ve always been the kind of person that if you give me an inch, I’m going to take a mile. I don’t mind having to do all the work, I just need the opportunity. If you open the door, I'll bust it down.

 

Until recently I hadn’t pursued my social education in a serious way. After Alton Sterling was killed this summer, that's when I realized I had to start saying something. It was the same day my Calvin Klein campaign came out, which is the first job I booked with my natural hair. All of the resistance that I faced up until that point was proof that sticking to my gut and instinct would take me far. I'm giving a TEDTalk next week about racism in the fashion industry, because I have a unique perspective to speak on it [ed note: Watch it here]. It’s coming from an anecdotal place—a lot of my personal experiences, but the experiences others have gone through too. Within my story, there are hundreds of stories. A lot of the experiences are so universal that there is no need to be suffering the way that we do.

 

HAIR
I went natural about a year ago. I actually remember doing it on November 16, 2015, because I was like, ‘New me!’ I’m going natural and not going back. At my old agency—and I want to be clear this was my old agency—their response was like, ‘What are you doing with your hair? Clients aren’t going to book you.’ After I transitioned, I worked for Calvin Klein and Victoria's Secret, these major clients that I didn’t work for when my hair was straight. I went to Devachan and Julie hooked me up. She cut me into this shape, and this is what I've been rocking since around the time I got signed to the Lions.

 

Over the holidays I had goddess locs, and I just got Bantu knots down at a braiding shop in Crown Heights—I don't get to keep anything for too long because of work, but I like to switch up my look. I'm really into Shea Moisture products. I try to keep it pretty natural, no sulfates. I shampoo once a week, but I co-wash every couple days, and I use coconut oil or jojoba oil on my scalp overnight. I use Shea Moisture's styling products too, like their Jamaican castor oil line. They make skincare stuff now. I haven’t looked into all of it, but I've heard it's really good.

 

SKINCARE
I'm oily in my t-zone, and if I break out, it's along my cheeks. The rest of my skin is dry, and the only thing I use to wash my face is African Black Soap. Every day, only once. If I'm wearing makeup, I'll use Bioderma Créaline to take it off. After I wash my face I use Dr. Hauschka Day Cream. It’s from Boots and it’s sort of this yellowish color. It has a bit of oil in it, which I like during the winter, but I also use the Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Oil at night. It keeps me moisturized throughout the night and when I wake up my skin is still supple. Especially after having that face to pillow contact all night it gets really drying.

 

Before doing a look, I'll use the Thayer's Witch Hazel Toner and the Dr. Hauschka Day Cream. Then some lip balm—like Rosebud Salve—and I'll spray my face with Heritage Rosewater. I don't know why, I just like it. I buy it at Whole Foods... I guess I do my beauty shopping and food shopping at the same time. For me, I don't want to put anything on my body that I wouldn't want in my body.

 

MAKEUP
Makeup is harder. I don't buy makeup at Whole Foods. [Laughs] But I don't usually wear it outside of work. No contour for me, but I do love highlight. It’s the most beautiful thing to me—dewy, glow, highlighted skin. My favorite highlighter is Gold Rush by MAC, but I also like the Nars South Beach stick. It depends if I'm going for a subtle highlight, or if I'm going out and looking for that glazed donut face. If it’s just that, nothing on the lids, lips, or eyes. Just a glow and I’m fine. I'll wear a Maybelline Push Up Angel Mascara to castings. This MAC Eye Kohl is called Teddy and I like to put this around and under my eyes and smudge it a bit. It's all pretty natural.

 

If I'm doing makeup to make a statement, it's definitely on the lip. Ruby Woo is my favorite. It’s the most red red. I’m usually a gloss kind of girl, though. The MAC Lip Balms are kind of glossy and wet, but they have great color. They’re really nice. A makeup artist used it on me one day. I love brown lipstick like the Marc Jacobs one in Bad Behavior. It kind of reminds me of the '90s, that Lauryn Hill or Mary J. Blige sort of look, and I think it’s so beautiful on brown skin. I like to play off of my own skin tone a bit.

 

Really, beauty and self-care are one and the same for me. We're in this culture that's all about rush rush rush, and putting everything and everyone before yourself is glorified behavior. But taking care of yourself is a huge part of your quality of life. Life is not just about making money. You can’t just be about that. You need to take time to relax. Then it's easier for you to express yourself.

 

source: intothegloss

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Office Magazine SS 17

Terry Richardson - Photographer
Simon Rasmussen - Fashion Editor/Stylist
Dennis Lanni - Hair Stylist
Zenia Jaeger - Makeup Artist
Ian Salter - Prop Stylist

 

source: TFS

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Glamour US April 2017

Olivia Malone - Photographer

Laura Ferrara - Fashion Editor/Stylist

Kayla MiChele - Hair Stylist

Georgi Sandev - Makeup Artist

Marisa Carmichael - Manicurist

 

source: models.com