From Paris runways to New York City streets, Black fashion designers have always helped set the trends and defined the looks we love. But before there was Virgil Abloh, Tracy Reese or LaQuan Smith, there was Zelda Wynn Valdes, a Black designer known for her knack for finding the perfect fit for women of all sizes and shapes, sometimes by just looking at them. During her career, she dressed some of the biggest Black stars of the 1950 and 60s and helping to design the iconic Playboy bunny suit.
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Born on June 18, 1905, to working-class parents in Pennsylvania, Valdes found a love for sewing and pattern making at an early age. By the time she was 13, she was making dresses for friends and family members. She went on to work in the stockroom at a boutique in White Plains, New York, eventually moving up to become a seamstress, making gowns for Black fashion shows and other social events.
Valdes’ love for feminine silhouettes came through in her work, and she created impeccably-tailored, form-fitting bridal and evening gowns that accentuated her clients’ curves. She is often credited with helping giving the mermaid dress mainstream popularity.
Before long, she’d build a clientele of Black celebrities who paid upwards of $1,000 for one of her couture creations, including Dorothy Dandridge and Josephine Baker, and the wives of well-known Black men, including boxer Sugar Ray Robinson’s wife, Edna Mae Robinson and Nat King Cole’s wife, Maria Ellington. In 1948, she made history when she became the first Black woman to open a Manhattan boutique, Zelda Wynn, on Broadway and West 158th Street, a favorite fashion destination for Black women who were discriminated against at white designers’ boutiques.
Her gift for dressing the woman’s body caught the attention of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. She hosted “Zelda at the Playboy” fashion shows at his Playboy Club and was one of the designers who helped create the original Playboy bunny suit.
In the 1970s, Valdes joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem, making costumes for the company for more than 20 years. She was a trailblazer in the field, dyeing the dancers’ tights to match their complexion. Zelda Wynn Valdes passed away in 2001 at the age of 96, but she will be forever remembered for her pioneering contributions to the fashion industry.
She told The New York Times, “I just had a God-given talent for making people beautiful.”
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