Magnetic black moiBy BEVERLEY MITCHELL

of The Gazette

The hips are wider, she notes dis- passionately, and she’s pretty sure she’s a quarter of an inch shorter. Arm bangles no longer slide up above the elbow with ease.

But at' 53 Johanne Harelle, Mont- real’s first black model, still pos- sesses the magnetism which lit up a thousand fashion-show runways more than two décades ago.

“She stalked the runways like a sleek, black panther,” an un- abashed admirer says of Harelle’s show-stopping appearances.

Harelle guffaws at the descrip­tion.

“ I think I walk like a fast gi1- raffc.”

Harelle is once again a Montreal- er, after a self-imposed exile of 19 years in Paris and other parts of the world with hcr now-divorced French sociologist husband.

She is the mother of a 33-year-old illegitimate son, the resuit of an earlier romantic liaison. She is a sometime actress and the author of an autobiography, Un Leçon, pub- lished two years ago.

She is still exploring, still ex- panding and being middle-aged doesn’t bother her a b it . except for society’s unexpressed demand that she act differently now that she is 53 instead of 23.

“ I don’t think that people should have to behave differently because they reach a certain âge. It’s negat- ing the person’s individuality. They are the same people but society says that if they’re grçy they’re old.

“So I dye my hair.”The coloring of her hair is her

only concession to the passihg years. Otherwise, Harelle romains the laidback, admittedly lazy inde- pendent she was 25 years ago when, almost without realizing it, she set a precedent by becoming Mont- real’s first black model.

In the United States, this break- through was not to occur until 1964, when Donyale Luna, a six-foot beauty, exploded on to the pages of

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Harper's Bazaar That was a year after Harelle had blithely walked away from the modelling career she had enjoyed from the mid-’50s on.

“ I left like that for a weekend in Paris and remained,” she recalled in a recent interview.

Reminiscing about her modelling days, she was wry rather than angry concerning the racial préju­dice she encountered.

“ I suffered from a little racism. There were a few incidents but not many It was much more than my being black. It was an inability to imagine a French-speaking black.”

She remembers parading for a time as a Haitian immigrant to ex- plain her French background. In re- ality, her mother was a French-Ca- nad i an and her f a t h e r an English-speaking West Indian.

She was born Joan Harrell and spoke English until her father died of tuberculosis when she was three. When her mother became confined to a sanitarium for treatment of the same disease, Harelle and her two younger brothers were sent to an orphanage.

The nuns who ran the orphanage altered her name and she was sub- sequently raised in French. Several attempts at placing her in adoptive homes ended unsuccessfully be­cause, she said, the adoptive par-

JOHANNE HARELLE Staying put in Montréal

Harelle with designer Michel Robichaud in the ’60s.

ents appeared to be more interest- ed in having an unpaid maid than a daughter.

A fte r fin ish ing school, she worked at an astonishing array of

' jobs — as a maid, a waitress, an ac- countant, babysitter, nightcjub pho- tographer, laboratory technician and, eventually, as a model at l ’Ecole Beaux Arts.

There, she made contact with the city’s French-speaking intelligen­tsia, among them people working in film and the fledgling télévision in- dustry.

“After I met them, if there was a rôle for a colored girl, I got it.”

She was treated not as an out- cast, she said, but rather as a “ mar­ginal person. Being a French-Cana- dian black girl, I was let to do whatever I felt like doing. I wàs outside the ordinary.”

The results, she said, were won- derful if unpredictable years.

“ It was a marvelous time, 1950- 1957 It was a revolutionary time and I would like to liv e that again.”

She is, in short, grateful for a background which many others

would regard as a burden.Had she been raised with a con-

ventional family in a conventional milieu, she reasons, she would probably not have becpme a suc- cessful model, sometime-actress and author.

She might not have had a pas- sionate, three-year love affair with film-maker Claude Jutras, a liaison dissected in his subséquent film, A Tout Prendre, which starred him and Harelle.

She might not have married a French sociologist and bounced around the world with him.

She might not now be back where she feels she truly belongs — in Montréal, in a dream of a house on Drolet St.

Harelle is now settled here per-, manently, working on other books, doing occasional acting and some télévision and radio work.

“ I dream sometimes of finding somebody who would not encumber my life but who would take care of alï the encumbrances of bills and mortgages, the financial merde. But it is my choice and not being ambitious makes it easier.”

The GAZETTE, Montréal, Friday, March 11, 1983 C-17

‘Legends’ in the makingLegends was produced by Gazelle

Fashion Editor lona Monahan and Barbra Katz.

Assistants: Margo Harrison, June Thompson. Consultants: Dick Walsh, Denis Dero.

Caricatures by Terry (“ Aislin") Mosher.Photographs by John Mahoney. Photo-

graph of Johanne Harelle by Tedd Church.

Layout by Frances Litwin, assisted by Gordon Griftin.

MAKEUP designed for Legends by Elec- ta di Genova of Electa & Corrado, using Designer Dazzle colors; visagiste Philip Chansel.

HAIR DESIGN by La Coupe’s artistic director Brigitte Danyi, assisted by Tina Del Vecchio.

MODELS: Melissa Anctil, Claudia Blon- deau, Vivienne Brown, Debbie Lunny, Nathalie Machabee, Petra Pocklington, from the Audrey Morris Agency; Domini­que Bertrand and Nancy Hood from Con­stance Brown Agency; Diane Young, Elis- sa Hill, Susie Huneault, Lisa Mclsaac and Kate Richmond from Jo Penney Agency.

ACCESSORIES: Under ail fashion: Har­monie Wolfe's Harmoniminis. Hosiery from Caprice Can Can, Cameo, Kayser, Secret, Whisper and Holt Renfrew collections. Cas! of characters

Page 2, Rene Levesque, Jean Dore; page 3, David Fennario, Tim Burke; page 4, Léonard Cohen; page 5, Henri Richard, André Gagnon; page 6, Jacques Parizeau; page 7, Camille Laurin; page 8, George Balcan; page 9, Gerald Godin, André Daw- son; page 10, Jehane Benoit; page 12, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Officer “ Trudge Souvlaki"; page 13, Mordecai Richler; page 14, Jean Drapeau; page 16,-Claude Ryan, Brian Mulroney.

Whero to buyCOVER: Jean Charles de Castelbajac

skirt, top, jacket at Eaton. Betty's Ma­dame boots. Mink's necklace and ear- rings, The Bay bracelets, Eaton's scarf.

Page 2: Christian Dior (Canada) Prêt a Porter designs are at Simpsons, Elizabeth Hager, Lily Simon and Ogilvy. Suit photo- graphed, from Simpsons' Salon Vendôme. Bally shoes. La Boite à Chapeau hat. Holt Renfrew bracelets, Eaton earrings. Thierry Mugler’s nautical suit at Clubissimo. Yves St. Laurent shoes from Holt Renfrew, briefcase from Lily Simon Chaussures, Anita Pineault hat, Ceil Chorlton bracelets from Ogilvy. Page 3: Kenzo designs are available at Lily Simon, Holt Renfrew, Eaton and Grege. Items photographed: pants, top and Kenzo sandals from Grege, dress from Liiy Simon, Quinto flats. Brace­lets from The Bay. Mink's necklet and pin. Canada Belt at Eaton. Armani pantsuit at Lily Simop's Giorgio Armani Boutique, ex-

wsss*®”®"”””-----

clusively. Quinto shoes, Henri Cohen glasses, jewelry from Chateau d'ivoire. Page 4: Claude Montana suede jacket and skirt at Holt Renfrew, exclusively. Ear­rings, Boutique Cliq. Brass bracelets The Bay. Black bracelets, Holt Renfrew. Page 5: Yves Saint Laurent coat-dress and suit at Saint Laurent Boutique. Open-toed pumps from Saint Laurent. Plain pumps, Bellini. Anita Pineault hat. Calvin Klein pea-jacket and side-laced skirt from Eaton. Moug sun-glasses. M ink's lapel pin. Bracelets from Holt Renfrew and The Bay. Ogilvy bag. Page 6: Laura Ashley white cotton dress at Laura Ashley Bou­tique. Chloe corselette belt at Holt Ren­frew, silk sash from Eaton, The Bay ear­rings. Page 7: Albert Nipon dress at The Bay (the Nipon collection is available in 20 Quebec stores). Guy Laroche dress at Boutique Guy Laroche. Quinto shoes, Holt Renfrew earrings, Eaton gloves. Glasses from Henri Cohen. Writing cases from Leather World. Pin from Mink's. Page 8: Chloe suit and dress, designed by Karl La­gerfeld, at Holt Renfrew. Kates hat, Moug jewelry. Page 9: Basile pantailleur at Ogilvy. Bellini flats. Holt .Renfrew bell. Brown's pumps. Quinto bag. Genny suit, by Gianni Versace, at Lily Simon. Betty's boots, Holt Renfrew socks, Mink's ear­rings, Holt Renfrew bracelets. Perry Ellis collection at Eaton and Holt Renfrew (jack­et and pants photographed from Holt Ren­frew). Mario Valentino sandals at Holt Renfrew. Carved bangles from Holt Ren­frew, brass and wood bangles, necklace. from Mink's. Page 10: Anne Klein's cash- mere and silk co-ordinates at Rita. The Anne Klein collection is available at Eaton, Simpson, Lily Simon. Ceil Chorlton jewelry at Ogilvy. Page 11: Andréa Pflster'S flow- ered shoe at Bally. Bruno Magli's high- heeled pump at Brown. Bellini low-heeled pump. Page 12: Emanuel Ungaro suit at Lily Simon, exclusively. Quinto pumps. Chateau d'ivoire jewelry, Holt Renfrew gloves and bag. Auckie Sanft collection is available in 40 stores in Quebec. Holt Ren­frew shoes. Moug jewelry. Page 13: Layered knitwear by Sonia Rykiel available at Clubissimo, Eaton, Lily Simon. Items photographed from Clubissimo. Fiat shoes from Quinto, Bally pumps. Jewelry from Kerman-Lachapelle. Page 14: Mario Valen­tino suedes at Ingrid's Boutique and Holt Renfrew. Patterned skirt and top at Holt Renfrew, blouse and skirt from Ingrid’s. Wrap belts from Canada Belt at Eaton, bracelets from Chateau d'ivoire. Earrings from Minks and Holt Renfrew. Page 16: Striped summer suit from Bill Blass at Simpson's Salon Vendôme. Brown’s shoes, Betty's Madame bag, Chateau d'ivoire jewelry. Jean Muir's suede jacket, Jersey skirt, at Clubissimo. Quinto shoes. Chateau d'ivoire jewelry.