“Tyra Mail!”
Tyra Banks has been on top. For decades, she’s represented what it looks like to break through an industry where Black women have long been underrepresented. She’s one of the few Black models to ever reach supermodel status, the first to cover GQ and Sports Illustrated, and, by the early 2000s, she was one of the world’s top-earning models.
This was, in part, because her beauty was so impossible to ignore. At Fendi’s spring-summer 1993 show, Banks sported a blunt cut blonde wig which scathed her black brows. In 1997, white under-eye powder added dimension to her otherwise smoky makeup at the 39th annual Grammy Awards. And, in 2002, false lashes at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show were the perfect accessory to her green eyes.
By 2010, a knit face covering couldn’t even hide her beauty—dewy skin and smoked out eyes—at Vogue’s 90th Anniversary Party. Then, on the front row of Jeremy Scott’s spring-summer 2013 show, her effortless comb-over bob turned messy hair into a beauty statement.
And of course, we’d be remiss to not mention the flawless ESSENCE covers Banks has also graced. Think: her June 2000 cover, shot in St. Lucia. Banks served her iconic smize with cornrowed strands and an island glow. For her February 2008 covers, she was found with ultra luminous skin, wispy lashes and voluminous dirty blonde strands. Then, fast forward to earlier this year, where she delivered a moodier vibe on our MARCH/APRIL 2025 covers. One of which she rocked a sky-high bouffant, long nails, and a smoky eye. As for the other? Blunt bangs and pin thin brows did the trick.
These days, Banks is leaning into more refined looks. Just a couple weeks ago, she arrived at the Fashion Trust Arabia Awards in a pin-curled pixie and bold winged eyeshadow, affirming the beauty embedded in her DNA.
From the 1990s to now, scroll on for Banks’ beauty evolution in honor of her 52nd birthday. today
1992
1995
1997
2000
2002
2004
2008
2010
2013
2017
2025
