Ebony Fashion Fair Placed On Indefinite Hiatus: The End of an Era?

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In its more-than-50 year history, the Ebony Fashion Fair has staged over 4,000 international fashion shows, raised more than $55 million in scholarships, and attracted hundreds of thousands of audience members. Not just a landmark of inclusion in the fashion industry, the Ebony Fashion Fair is an annual staple on the cultural calendar, and has its roots in a revolutionary period of American history. It's made celebrities of participating designers and aspiring models—Pat Cleveland toured with the fair when she was 15, Terri Springer was one of its most famous faces from 1959 to 1964, and Sue Simmons started as a fashion fair model as well.

This year, following the January death of Eunice Johnson, the fair's producer and director, as well as the wife of Ebony magazine founder John Johnson, the Ebony Fashion Fair has been put on indefinite hiatus. "Management is evaluating how best to continue the legacy of Mrs. Johnson and also the Ebony Fashion Fair brand," spokeswoman Jeanine Collins told The Associated Press. "To make a determination of whether this is the end, we wouldn't be able to speak to that."
· Close of Ebony Fashion Fair means end of an era [AP]