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Renauld White obituary

Groundbreaking model who was a favourite face for photographers in the 70s, and whose style ran years ahead of the mainstream

He was rejected because he had no formal representation, so he looked up the address of Eileen Ford’s leading model agency, walked across town and presented himself, a non-standard size in his crazy dance-hall finery, with a large Afro and a sport-scarred nose. He wore a dashiki shirt or a camel steamer coat with equal slight amusement, and that GQ cover (where he was only the third black man to appear, preceded by Sammy Davis Jnr and the Swiss-Nigerian model Urs Althaus) brought him many magazine spreads as classic menswear triumphed in the 80s. He repaid Coach Higgins’ investment in his potential by mentoring young black models, encouraging them to save their brief peak earnings in order to finance their futures, and by giving talks in schools and university demystifying glamour: what worked, he said, was showing up ready, and perseverance.

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