Remembering Toukie Smith, a Trailblazer Who Redefined Runway Beauty

Doris “Toukie” Smith, the trailblazing model and actress whose presence helped broaden fashion’s vision of beauty, has died at age 74 after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. Her influence on the runway — and on generations who followed — remains part of fashion’s story.

The Philadelphia native was also the sister of legendary American designer Willi Smith, whose contributions to the cultural zeitgeist have long impacted fashion’s conversation. “Toukie,” as she was famously known, arrived in New York, just as her brother’s star began to rise on the American fashion scene.

According to Bethann Hardison, it was Willi Smith’s introduction of her in his runway shows that helped catapult her modeling career in the 1970s and 1980s.

“She was his nagging little sister, but as Willi began to use her in his shows she began to get more exposure,” Hardison recently told WWD.

“No, she wasn’t the tallest model, but she was beautiful. She had a larger-than-life personality and a great spirit. Hardison stated, “It was the 1970s, a great time for us all. Back then, becoming a model was different than today. She [Toukie] was more of a personality model and was admired by many of the great fashion designers. And it worked for her.”

Although she may not have fit the industry’s standard for a model’s height or body type, her arrival alongside other Black models — men and women — opened a much-needed conversation about beauty and diversity in fashion.

When asked about her influence, model and businesswoman Norma Jean Darden noted that, “Toukie helped fashion reenvision the female form. She was voluptuous for a model. But the designers loved her.”

“When I met her and Willi they were embarking on a journey. It was a family affair always.”

Willi Smith was one of the “big four” Black designers — alongside Jon Haggins, Scott Barrie and Stephen Burrows — who championed diversity on Seventh Avenue and on the global fashion stage beginning in the 1960s. He would become one of the most successful of the four.

“I walked in Willi’s grand gala at Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia, where his mother and aunt were seamstresses for a long time, when he returned to New York as the star of Seventh Avenue, Toukie was right there with him.”

When WWD put a lens on the Black models and designers of the era in “SA’s 73 Movers,” Toukie was amongst those now iconic faces. “Some of the best Black models have never gone to modeling school. Willi Smith’s sister, Doris, spotlights many shows,” model Naomi Sims commented.

Darden also noted Smith’s commitment to her own image. Her close-cropped natural hairstyle, worn long before many other models would dare to adopt the look, captured the era and reflected the “Black is beautiful” mantra.

“Smith’s understanding of her own beauty was an affirmation, a voice that remains impactful in paving the way for the inclusivity we continue to fight for today,” said Darden.

As WWD broadened its coverage on inclusive beauty, Smith and her contemporaries helped change the conversation around diversity, bringing new excitement and expression to the runway.

The daily’s extensive runway coverage documents Smith’s presence as a celebrated face in America and Europe. Her vivacious energy was seen on runways beyond those of her brother Willi Smith, including Chanel, Geoffrey Beene, Valentino, Fernando Sanchez, Kansai Yamamoto and Issey Miyake. With Miyake, she participated in the famed “East Meets West” fashion show, which featured an all-Black model cast. She also appeared in Patrick Kelly’s fall 1989 show.

Sandi Bass, original member of Hubert de Givenchy’s all-Black model cabine, noted, “Toukie never met a stranger. From Paris, Rome and Tokyo we walked the runways together, all of us. Her infectious personality drew you in at ‘hello,’ leaving the receiver under her magic, feeling they just met a ‘forever friend.'”

“Toukie had a fantastic spirit, she was a force of life. Loving, kind and she graced the runway with the same spirit. When traveling for overseas buying trips she was one of the Black models, I loved to see her on the runways at Issey Miyake and Kansai Yamamoto and others. She remained herself, a true fashion diva. While she wasn’t the average model she knew how to work it on the runway, becoming an icon in her timeline,” noted Veronica Jones, former buyer at Joseph Magnin Department Stores and friend.

Toukie was also a familiar face on the social scene. And remained a muse to many, according to model Alva Chinn. “On the runway Toukie brought a womanly body and energy as muse to her designer brother, Willi Smith and she was also a muse to photographer Jean-Paul Goude,” Chinn stated.

WWD would interview Goude in 1982 after his controversial art book “Jungle Fever” featuring Smith was released. Goude told WWD that he exaggerated her beauty in the book with an artistic lens. “Smith was a masterpiece of nature. But I couldn’t help myself. I had to improve on the masterpiece.”

Pat Cleveland added that, “Toukie was pure joy, and she light up every room she walked into. She seemed to float through it like someone out of a fairy tale. She was particularly tiny and cute like a Betty Boop character. She was playful and had a special sweetness about her that made everyone around her smile. She brought that spirit to everything she did especially on the runway for her brother, Willi. Toukie was one of a kind.”

Beyond the runway, Smith’s life included acting, entrepreneurship and motherhood. She appeared on the television sitcom “227” from 1989 to 1990, opened a restaurant and catering business in New York, and welcomed twin sons with actor Robert De Niro via surrogate during a partnership that lasted approximately eight years. In 1987, after her brother’s death, Smith helped establish Feb. 23 as Willi Smith Day in New York, honoring his achievements in fashion in conjunction with Black History Month.

Together these voices affirm Smith’s place as a central figure in the Black model movement of the 1970s and the collective impact of an era that helped make her presence the norm, not the exception. Her story is a part of history that helped break barriers on the runway and make way for others to follow.

For more on Toukie Smith, take a look back at her time on the runway through WWD and the Fairchild Archive.

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