“Do you know where you’re going to? Do you like the things that life is showing you?”
So goes the soundtrack for Mahogany, the 1975 cult classic starring Diana Ross. The words speak to the uncertain future of Ross’s titular character Tracy Chambers, a would-be fashion designer living in the slums of Chicago. But from the moment our heroine appears on-screen, you know she’s already headed in the right direction. With an oversize trench flung over her shoulders, knee-high boots clacking at her feet, and her hair blowing in the wind, Chambers is quickly noticed by a successful but obsessive photographer, who wants to make her a star and his muse. It’s a movie that has inspired legions of little style-conscious black girls (this writer included) for years, and one that certainly solidified Ross—who happens to be celebrating her 72nd birthday tomorrow—as a fashion icon for the ages. Because after all, Chambers’s bold and beautiful look was largely inspired by Ross’s own.
Who else could drape herself in a purple fur-sleeved gown with a matching turban than the self-proclaimed “boss” of R&B? And when Ross played the tragic but legendary Billie Holiday in 1972’s Lady Sings the Blues, she had jaw-dropping dresses to match her performance. Even the puff-sleeved top, flippy skirt, and metallic loafers Ross wore as Dorothy in The Wiz felt chic and ladylike.
Above we take a look back at the birthday girl’s most stylish on-screen moments.