The Banana Skirt

I remembered her when, by chance I found the picture of this banana skirt by Prada on the web and I knew instantly that this  was a tribute to Josephine Baker.  She came to Romania, long time ago to the Golden Stag festival . She sang in French and flirted with the public. Much later I learned that she was broke and died soon after the festival.

In the 1990s, in New York I read a biography written by an old friend of hers, who also opened a restaurant, Chez Josephine. The food was good and he greeted you with “Bonjour mes amis!”

source: tumblr

She was born  in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 3, 1906 to a washerwoman and a vaudeville drummer who left his family soon after. As a child she was sent to clean houses, or babysit for white families.

At twelve she was a street child who danced to make a living. Hired as a comic dancer she toured the United States with various bands. The stepping point in her careers  was La Revue Nègre performed in Paris. There, Josephine captivated the audience. French loved her and she became the toast of Paris overnight. In 1936  she returned home but the American audience was not ready to see a black woman successful in the showbizz and she returned to Europe, heartbroken.

She served France during World War II doing undercover work for the French Resistance. She was the first American woman to receive the  French military honor, the Croix de guerre as well as the Legion of Honor by the French Government.

In the ‘60s she adopted 12 children of different origins and reared them in her French castle. She also contributed to the Civil Rights movement in the United States supporting Martin Luther King.

I am glad she is not forgotten and that she became an inspiration for fashion and entertainment industry. 


I often listen to her song “J’ai deux amours, mon pays et Paris”

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