Today we’d like to introduce you to Ricci De Forest.
Hi Ricci, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born in Cleveland Ohio. I was in 4 foster care homes from age 5-12. It was in one of the foster homes that I went to Dian Elementary School. One school day the teacher passed out paper plates, crepe paper, glue, and scissors withe the round tip. Her instructions to the classs was to design paper plate hats for a school play. The next day at school the teachers called me in front of the classroom to show the kids the hats that I made. Then she paraded me to other classes to show off the hats that I s teacher then made a comment that I have never forgotten. She said that I was going to be another Mr John. It would be later in my life that I discovered who Mr. John was, By then my Aunt Helen de Forest had rescued me from the foster care system. At her home was a few encyclopedias where I finally looked up the name Mr. John who was an international Milliner (hat maker) I. New York City.. While looking up information about Mr. John I started coming across other names in the fashion industry. ie, Christóbal Belenciaga, Dior, Schiaparelli, Emilio Pucci and many others. This was the the beginning of a love affair with style and design. I became obsessed with learning as much as I could about this world of fashion.
After high school a girl I was dating applied to the Fashion Institute of Design Los Angeles. She brought a letter from the school saying that I had been excepted. I save what I could and flew to Los Angeles to
Persue my career in fashion.. However I was not aware that exceptance did not mean it was paid for.
I used my fashion knowledge and my creativity to get employment as a window display designer. This work for a while but was not steady income. I left my dorm room one day very hungry and wondered into a department store downtown Los Angeles. While standing in the cosmetic area watching a makeup artist apply make up to a customer it hit me. I said I can do that. I hurried back to my dorm room and wrote a resume saying that I was a professional makeup artist. Armed with all of the knowledge I gained from previous research I sent it to Fashion Fair Cosmetic Co. a new cosmetic line for Black Women.
Weeks later I received a reply saying I was hired and to be at Bullocks Department Store on Wilshire Boulevard. From that start I went on to traveling internationally for Fashion Fair, finishing only one year at the Fashion Institute of Los Angeles.
During this time Essence Magazine launched to serve the Black female customers which were greatly under served. The timing was perfect for me, as I started doing hair along with my makeup resulting in me my work being seen on the cover of this new beauty magazine. Fashion Fair made me an offer that was too good to refuse. They said if I relocate from Los Angeles to Atlanta that they would guarantee me working in the Caribbean. I packed up my things a moved to Atlanta. Arriving in Atlanta I wanted to enroll in cosmetology. Having no funds for tuition I was able to barter my makeup skills and teach make up at a leading cosmology school Talk of the Town on Cambelton Rd. owned by top stylist Rudy Lee.
After graduating from Talk of the Town I saved my coins and opened Ricci International Salon. on North Highland Ave. This is where the story brings us up to my current location. Riding around Atlanta in my little convertible 1961 Karmann Ghia I’m on Auuburn Ave. And turn right on Hilliard St. N.E. as I look to my left I see Madame CJ Walker beauty shoppe on the window. I slammed on my brakes get out of my car and walked over to the window and started touching glass. Immediately I knew the ink and the font was from an earlier era. Out of respect I would return to pay homage to this window. Years later I would was looking for a new location for my salon. Upon inquiring about the space the barber shop next to the beauty shoppe said the Masons owned the building and there office was upstairs. I was able to secure the lease. Upon entering the beauty shop to cleanup and prepare to operate Ricci International Salon inside an original Madame CJ Walker beauty shoppe, During the cleaning up process I started finding beauty tools that were used and left by the agents that were employed there. Two years into the lease a black woman from the neighborhood popped her head in the door and told me that WERD the first black owned radio station operated directly above the beauty shop. It was at that moment decided that this space needed to be preserved as a museum.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Starting the museum has been easy, primarily because the artifacts and the history was already there. However, preserving and promoting this incredible legacy requires funding. So in that rebar it is a constant challenge.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m am privileged to curate two of the most significant I legacies associated with the African American experience, Hair Fashion, and Music. My specialty is the Preservation of music on vinyl from the 1920s- 1980s the analog era. Also preserving the legacy’s of the many negro women beauty pioneers of the early 1900s including Madame CJ walker.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
It could be called luck, or guided by the universe.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.MadameCJWalkerMuseum.com
- Instagram: Werdstudioatl
- Facebook: Ricci de Forest
Image Credits
Dgo Creative Studio
