China Machado, a legendary supermodel who broke racial barriers as the first non-white model to grace a major fashion magazine, has died at the age of 87.
Born Noel De Souza Machado, Machado opened a show for Givenchy in Paris in 1958, which caught the eye of noted fashion photographer, Richard Avedon. In an interview with New York in 2011, she said, “I’d been photographed by a couple of stock photographers in Europe, but I was really a runway model for Givenchy in Paris, not a fashion model,” she explained. “At that time, it was separated, you either did runway or you did photography. You didn’t do both.”At just 28 years old, she created an enviable career that spanned decades. Machado was also at work on a clothing label, Cheena, inspired by her upbringing in Shanghai, according to Vogue.
Women’s Wear Daily reports that Machado died Sunday morning at Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island after suffering cardiac arrest. She was days away from celebrating her 88th birthday.
