Laura McLaws Helms
Fashion/Cultural Historian, Writer & Consultant

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Rest In Peace Linda Cristal (23 February 1931 – 27 June 2020). An Argentine beauty that starred in Westerns in the 1950s and 60s, mostly famously alongside John Wayne in 'The Alamo' (1960), opposite Clint Eastwood in an episode of 'Rawhide' (19
The warm glow of stained glass in Milton Glaser’s Woodstock kitchen, 1977. Unsurprisingly his home was perfect in every way 💞 #miltonglaser #dreamhome
Rest In Peace Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929 – June 26, 2020). Thank you for the magic—so much magic. Since founding Push Pin Studios in 1954, Glaser helped create and define American visual culture through his posters, branding, logos, alb
Dreamy summer pastel wardrobe—all lace and gingham and flowers—from Seventeen, April 1970. Photos by Carmen Schiavone. If anyone recognizes the models, please let me know their names 🌸🌸🌸
Dream beauty Peggy Dillard @peggydillard.legacy wearing lace-trimmed lingerie by Fernando Sanchez on the cover of Cosmopolitan, October 1978. Makeup by Way Bandy and photo by Francesco Scavullo. South Carolina native Dillard moved to NYC at 17 to stu
Recollecting the days of big, gala weddings with Mario Van Peebles's 'New Jack City' (1991). Set in Harlem, this action crime film stars Wesley Snipes (looking sharp as hell in perfectly tailored black)—this scene also features Keith Sweat as t
The original Nasty Gal herself, Betty Davis showing off her amazing style in the second issue (June 1970) of the counterculture fashion publication Rags. At 16 Betty moved from Pittsburgh to New York City to attend FIT and immersed herself in the fol
At a rally in Harlem, "Reverend" Deke O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart) selling shares for the purchase of a ship to take Blacks back to Africa in the 1970 film 'Cotton Comes to Harlem.' Based upon the 1965 hardboiled crime novel of the same name
Eldridge Cleaver's "My Queen, I Greet You (An Open Letter To Black Women)," as published in BLACK DIALOGUE (Volume 1 Issue 3), spring 1966. Famously written while Cleaver was an inmate at Folsom State Prison in 1965, this essay was later pu
After a company tour to New Orleans in the early 1980s, Dance Theatre of Harlem co-founder Arthur Mitchell had the idea to move the setting of the ballet 'Gisele' (one of the oldest surviving ballets, first performed in 1841) from medieval Europe to
The incandescently beautiful and talented Paula Kelly talking to the inimitable James Earl Jones about her work teaching dance at the Mafundi Institute in Watts, on Jones' television series 'Black Omnibus', 1973. 'Black Omnibus' was “the first
The first five minutes of Mathieu Kassovitz's phenomenal 'La Haine' (1995), which was released 25 years ago last week. Using actual documentary footage from French riots that took place between 1986 and 1994—accompanied by Bob Marley's "Bu
From 1963 to 1964, Danny Lyon traveled through the South and Mid-Atlantic regions documenting the Civil Rights Movement. The photographs from this period (some of which are shown above, all taken between 62 and 64) were published in 'The Movement', a
If you caught my last episode of LADY'S After Hours podcast @ladytv_ you'll have heard my conversation with the wonderful dancer/choreographer/director Martha Clarke. In July 1975 House & Garden magazine did a feature on the home she remodeled al
Happy 72nd birthday to the true queen, @stevienicks! Forever and ever my love. This now iconic footage shows Stevie backstage at a photo session in 1981 breaking into "Wild Heart" with the voice of an angel. I love this song so much that I