By Oladayo Idowu
May 28, 2011
NEW YORK CITY- The cool spring breeze lightly tossed the debris along the busy New York City streets. It was 2 P.M. Traffic was at its heaviest. The streets were occupied by slow moving tourist gawking at every skyscraper, street vendors hustling for that dollar, and the natural city inhibitors that walk with their noses in the air because this is their home, of course. But in the mist of the chatters and honking, a young woman walked through the crowds in her jeans, sneakers and a grey hoodie, not the style that would typically match her dark edgy haircut. Beautifully average. No one would ever suspect that they were standing beside a model.
No one would have suspected she would have decided to be a model in the first place.
Several years ago, she stood under the shade of the tall building of Curtis High School in Staten Island, wearing her army green slacks and matching Garrison cap with her green shirt embellished with honorable pins neatly tucked into her pants.
She was an ROTC.
After school she would stand in long lines with a crowd of, mostly, boys waiting for the latest pair of sneakers to hit the shelves. “I was a tomboy in High School.”
Today, Jewel Anastasia Tolbert, the granddaughter of former Liberian president William Tolbert Jr., had just escaped the cramped intoxicated New York subways, where she had been entertained by a Mexican mariachi band.
She’s use to it. She has to take long train rides from her home to her job in the city.
“Some guy on the train looked at me and said “smile”,” says Tolbert “People say I look mean” With her fairly light complexion and soft child-like features- she was asked to show ID, when she order a fruity alcoholic beverage- it is not easy to believe.
A friend of Tolbert disagrees with everyone else. “She’s a great person who is warm and approachable” says Mazuba Kapambwe. Kapambwe, a senior at the University at Albany, met Tolbert in 2009 at a fashion show held by Adiree Fashion Agency called The Essence of Pose. “She was a model in the show and I met her through my friend T J Payne whom I attended the fashion show with.”
“I think she is an amazing person.” Kapambwe said of Tolbert.
A few months ago Tolbert was browsing the web and came across an internship search website called freeinternships.com. The website is a display of daily updated posts of internships in the fashion industry. Who knew a simple click of the button would be the start of something amazing.
Tolbert got a lucky start as an intern for world renowned fashion designer Zac Posen. Not long after, three months to be exact, Tolbert’s hard work paid because after three months of interning she was offered a full position as a designer assistant. Working for Zac Posen is a great opportunity for a recent college graduate and an upcoming model and designer and not many are fortuned to have such a beginning.
“I didn’t really get into fashion until my senior year of High School,” says Tolbert “I started doing fashion shows and I started wearing more fashionable clothes.”
Tolbert completed her Undergraduate degree at the Arts Institute of New York in 2009. She graduated with a Bachelors degree in fashion design. “It wasn’t easy,” she said of her time at the Arts Institute “There’s math involved and a lot of drawing, everything was so technical. I got little to no sleep.”
First step to success is get your foot, or in this case, your manicured high heeled foot, in the door. Not to mention that that door happens to be guarded by 5 foot 9 tall bodyguards and tailors holding measuring tape, not much longer than 24 inches.
“Many days I am discouraged,” she said “But it’s what I love and I don’t believe in giving up.”
Tolbert took that huge step and knocked the “norm” out the way while she was striding in. Jewel Tolbert didn’t have the typical image of a supermodel, besides being absolutely stunning, she stood 5 foot 7 inches tall and had a little curve compare to the typical model body shape. “I’m not starving myself for a size zero, no,” says Tolbert.
Every day the fashion industry evolves and as of lately it seems as if the models are taking part in that evolution. Models of many sizes began to make their debut on the runway and in high fashion magazines. Designers strayed from using the typical size 0 women and took a different approach. Last season plus-sized model, Crystal Renn embraced her full figure on both Zac Posen and Chanel’s spring 2011 runway show. Designer Betsey Johnson used women of all shapes and sizes for her fall 2011 runway show, appealing to “real” women. But it seems as though the fashion industry forgot about African Americans and other minorities. In an interview with the New York Times, former model Bethann Hardison said “It’s the worst it’s ever been.”
Jewel Tolbert is black, Liberian to be exact. Apparently in today’s fashion industry it serves as a potential road block.
Maybe the lack of African Americans is just an issue with print. Maybe the runway models are having better luck.
Maybe not.
In a New York Times 2007 article, Evan Bart the senior vice president of IMG Models said “We represent a lot of ethnic girls.” Referring to successful models like Alek Wek and Honorine Uwera. “We include them in our show package, give them the same promotion as any other girl, and get the same responses: ‘She’s lovely, but she’s not right for the show.’”
A survey by the Daily News revealed that out of 1,584 model slots, 94 went to black mannequins - a paltry 6 percent – in reference to 2008 New York Fashion Week.
“It’s going to take a while before we see change,” Dr. Janelle Hobson, Director of Women Studies at the UAlbany said “but we have to remember that folks before you have made subtle changes. You have to work within the standard while bringing in the diversity.”
Dr. Hobson, in her giggly manner informed an audience of diverse college students to “push back on the push back.” She was referring to the pressure to be more like the “model model”, Caucasian, blue eyes and long hair. “White is the norm and that’s just the nature of the beast.”
Young African American women look up to people like Beyoncé, who is very fair in complexion with long blonde hair and Dr. Hobson suggest that we become the opposite of what we are expected to look like. “Once we appreciate ourselves, advertisers would find it necessary to advertise to us.” She says as her natural curly hair bounced as she shook her head.
Sitting in a dim Fridays in the middle of a busy room, Jewel Tolbert glows, not only because she was a beautiful women, through her confidence and positive attitude.
And she doesn’t let the “norms” of the fashion industry keep her from pursuing her dreams.
Tolbert has had a great line of work to put in her modeling resume, despite the odds held against her. 2010 was a year of success for Tolbert. The Liberian Entertainment Awards was held in Atlanta, and Tolbert was nominated Most Trendy and Best Model. That summer was African Fashion Week and Tolbert modeled for Project Runway Season 5 designer Kortu Momolu. Her 2010 luck bled into 2011, when she booked a job as the face on hair packaging. Her face will soon be seen in beauty supply stores everywhere, which is a huge accomplishment for an upcoming model.
Tolbert gripped on to her cell phone with her yellow and pink nails. She evenly split her time between her phone and her plate. Maybe her busy life was catching up to her. Maybe she was just informed of another gig and some major fashion show. What could have her so attached to her phone? “I’ve been tweeting this whole time” she said with a smile.
To many, Twitter is just a site that allows one to express themselves in 140 characters or less, while Jewel Tolbert took twitter to an advantage to promote herself. She was chosen by an upcoming photographer to be included in his portfolio. She has a photo shoot this May.
“I don’t want to be recognized as solely a Liberian model.” says Tolbert, “Designing is my top priority, modeling is just the stepping stone.”
Tolbert ideal career goal is to display her love of art to the world, “When I die I want people to look back and say her life was revolved around art,” including jewelry design. “I like to stand out and jewelry makes the outfit stand out.” Tolbert plans to use her art as inspiration, which she hopes would set her apart from other designers. “I already have a name for my jewelry collection” she says, “Lewej.” That’s Jewel backwards.
“I love art and I want to be able to express myself through art whether it’s through my designs, paintings and drawings or modeling” Tolbert said, “Modeling is an art.” Tolbert even designs a few tattoos for friends and family, she even designed the tattoo on her wrist. It says Kpelle, meaning “we are one.”
“I don’t want to be known as a designer or a model,” says Tolbert “I want to be known as an artist.”
