Fashion / Film & TV / Press & broadcasting
Veronica Webb
born 1965 · model, actress, writer, television personality
Detroit-born supermodel who in 1992 became the first Black model with an exclusive cosmetics contract (Revlon), and who acted in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 61- Detroit years
- 1965–early 1980s
- Field
- Fashion, Film & TV, Press & broadcasting
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Veronica Webb was born in Detroit in 1965 and grew up in the city, where she attended the Detroit Waldorf School, housed in an Albert Kahn-designed building in the historic Indian Village neighborhood. She moved to New York to study at Parsons and the New School and was discovered as a model there in the mid-1980s. She rose to prominence in the late 1980s and 1990s, walking for Azzedine Alaïa, Gianni Versace, Isaac Mizrahi and Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel and appearing on the covers of Vogue, Essence and Elle. In 1992 she signed with Revlon, becoming the first Black model to hold an exclusive cosmetics contract. She made her film debut in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991) and has worked as a television host and commentator. She is also a writer, contributing essays to The New York Times, Elle and Interview and publishing the memoir-style book Veronica Webb Sight (1998).
Highlights
- First Black model with an exclusive cosmetics contract (Revlon, 1992)
- Covers of Vogue, Essence and Elle; runway for Chanel, Versace and Alaïa
- Film debut in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991)
- Attended the Detroit Waldorf School in Indian Village
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1970s
Detroit Waldorf School
Private Waldorf school in Indian Village, in a 1913 Albert Kahn building (a Michigan State Historic Site since 2016); Webb is listed as a former student.