Cordie King Stuart, pioneering EBONY Fashion Fair model-entrepreneur, succumbs at 80

Jet, Nov 22, 2004

Cordie King Stuart, a pioneering model with the EBONY Fashion Fair who founded her own modeling and charm school, recently died after a long illness in Indianapolis. She was 80.

Born in Walter Valley, MS, she was discovered in 1949 by former JET Editor Ed Clayton and Freda DeKnight, former EBONY Magazine food editor, JPC home service director and original producer/director/narrator of the world-famous EBONY Fashion Fair. That same year Stuart did her first modeling job. She was featured in an EBONY magazine article titled "What Men Notice Most About Women." A popular model for EBONY, she was also featured in a 1955 article, "EBONY Pin-Ups," where she was photographed among some of Black America's most beautiful women.

She married Marion H. "Mayday" Stuart, owner of Stuart Moving and Storage Company of Indianapolis, in 1956.

Stuart later became one of the original models for the EBONY Fashion Fair, now the world's largest traveling fashion show. She was one of four models during its first-ever show in 1958.

Her modeling career went to another level when she was chosen as one of three TV models during a beauty pageant in Chicago. Stuart broke color barriers as one of the first Black women to model and appear in television commercials that ranged from baking soda to Schlitz Beer to Fuller Products and the Madame C.J. Walker Company.

Winning a beauty pageant in Barbados, West Indies, as a representative for the U.S., helped her to gain international fame.

The beautiful model captured the heart of late legendary performer Sammy Davis, Jr., with whom she was once engaged. He played an influential role in launching her career.

Also known for her lovely voice, Stuart was known by many as the "singing model."

She founded the Cordie King Castle for Modeling and Charm School where she shared knowledge about her remarkable career. Those who studied under her tutelage included former EBONY Fashion Fair model Janet Langbart Cohen, a noted former TV journalist and wife of William S. Cohen, former Secretary of Defense, and Bonnie Horner, wife of retired IBM executive John Horner.

In addition to founding a modeling and charm school, she owned and operated Cordie's Cafe at the Colonial House in Chicago. Many notables were familiar with the establishment.

A well-known socialite, Stuart's social circle included greats such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Adam Clayton Powell, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner and Patricia Kennedy Lawford.

Stuart received the Pioneer Award in media modeling from the Minority Fashion Designers in 1994.

Survivors include her husband and a host of relatives and friends.