Jennifer Noble

RocketQueen · July 27, 2020

Jennifer Noble is an 80s model.

Although Jennifer Noble was just 12 when she started modeling, it already ran in the family: Her late father, Gil Noble, began his career as one of the first successful black male models before going on to become an anchor on ABC and the host of Like It Is, the channel’s long-running Sunday morning program about black leadership and the African-American experience.

After a break—for braces, horseback-riding lessons, and other adolescent pastimes—Noble was scouted again, this time on the Piazza di Spagna in Rome during college. At 25, she was living the life in Milan, speaking fluent Italian and walking for designers including Karl Lagerfeld in the early days of Fendi furs, Marc Jacobs during his tenure at Perry Ellis, and Gianfranco Ferré, who was then at the helm of Dior. By the mid-’90s, she had an established career blessedly untainted by #MeToo moments (which she credits to luck, horse sense, and a solid upbringing), appearing in Vogue alongside Carré Otis and Kara Young, and had befriended several of the industry’s major players.