Actress, activist and novelist Denise looks back on her style journey in the light of her new memoir, Finding Home (Agate/Bolden, 2025).
“I look at designers then select things from all over the place. No set design person. When I wear an outfit that looks designer-ish, it’s because I’ve taken a concept and made it my own. I’m the designer I guess one could say. For years, I only wore Cole Hahn shoes and bags and leather jackets… Now, I mix a Cole Hahn leather jacket with say shoes I get from Hanig’s in Chicago, the most exquisite shoes I’ve ever worn, Thierry Rabotin, Italian. I still wear a United Colors of Benetton Bright blue winter coat when I travel to cold places. So I’d say I’m eclectic as a “self-designer.”” –Denise Nicholas
The OG Influencer
I was in junior high when I found The Denise Nicholas Beauty Book on a random shelf somewhere in my small Illinois hometown. Ms. Nicholas was among more visible and celebrated actresses on TV, recognized by a doe-eyed and pout-mouthed beauty rivaling the pinup sirens of old Hollywood. Subtitled ‘a complete guide to good grooming and feminine beauty from head to toe,’ I knew I had magic in my hands if it got me to a fraction of gorgeous good health she radiated, whether on TV or within Jet Magazine’s Celebrity Photos.
This commitment to work with rather than compete with other women aligned with her lesser-known history as a fervent Civil Rights and women’s rights activist. This was as she co-starred with the biggest Black leading men of the time in classic films of the 70’s. She entered the industry at a time when starring roles for Black women were expanding- as were the challenges with styling, hair and makeup for them as she would find.
Chance roles vaulted her to A-list fame from hit TV shows like “Room 222,” “The Rockford Files” and Emmy-winning “In the Heat of the Night”: the first integrated major network television show to regularly address racism in America. However, Ms. Nicholas, born in Detroit in 1944, never lost her simple Midwest girl essence.
The Writer
I was still new to being a media figure when my debut novel published alongside hers in 2005. From a conscious indie press in Chicago, Nicholas’s acclaimed Freshwater Road is a roaring tale of a woman’s quest from 1960’s Detroit to Mississippi to chisel a Black identity rather than slip through “passing” for white like her mother. It is no vanity project secured on her name. It is demanding and labored work on par with Black women writers who sparked me to hone a craft.
I had occasion to meet Ms. Nicholas when she joined little old me for an author spotlight event at a small but mighty Black community theater in Chicago. She came unpretentiously, and alone, to the theater’s intimate art gallery. I didn’t think she’d show up, but of course she would. I didn’t know then that she was a college dropout who ran off to join the theater instead of circus. This was just another right at home for her like libraries for me.
Now, the author Denise Nicholas is back with a biography from that same Chicago publisher, Finding Home: A Memoir (Agate Bolden, 2025). We hit the jackpot: she also narrates its audiobook released this March, right on time for Women’s History Month (Read the Beauty News NYC review). She covers struggles coming from Motown, the 1980 loss of her little sister to a still unsolved murder, her lucky vault into major show business, her times with historical figures like James Baldwin and her unpublicized justice work.
However, she has lived all this life under pressure to be taken seriously beyond her looks which made her an icon and fashionista for women all over. From an impeccable afro to blowouts to “pressed” hair to natural waves, from tailored business suits all the rage for women in the 70’s to glamour gowns for magazine photo shoots, Nicholas never errs to both stay in style and on brand leading women to cultivate inner beauty.
The Beauty and Style Icon
To mark the momentous occasion of Denise’s memoirs 54 years after her very first book, Beauty News NYC recently interviewed her on her fashion and style.
“I loved “being” a guidance counselor or a city council lady. I liked the authority of these roles. I liked that they dressed conservatively. There is a layer of sensuality under that way of being.” -Denise Nicholas
BNYC: I’ll get the hard one out of the way: tell us your fave fashion moment of your career, that time everything felt absolutely flawless or the outfit fit the moment perfectly or…? And only one.
DN: Absolutely the 1970’s with platform shoes that added two inches to my 5’7” height. I was in heaven, discoing every chance I got. I remember going from club to club here in Los Angeles.
BNYC: The world is excited for Finding Home, and you narrate the audiobook. That’s a divine comingling of your divine gifts, thus far at least, as more is coming from you I’m sure. Where did the cover shot come from? How or why did you choose it above all others as the sweeping image to represent your life in its totality?
DN: My publisher Doug Seibold and I crawled through 9 million head shots of me taken over many years. We decided on this pic because it emotionally substantiated the soul of the book.
BNYC: How did you protect and treat your fair skin all your life? It’s wonderful still. What are some products or regimens you used and what fave tricks have stuck with you over the years?
DN: Thank you. For sure, I never go to sleep with makeup on my face. I moisturize morning and night. My mom lived to be 104 years old – passing on September 27, 2025. She was a beautiful woman who had not one wrinkle on her face when she passed. For most of her life, she used Pond’s cold cream. I don’t use that specific product but I do exactly as she did. Protect from the sun, moisturize a clean face.
BNYC: We hope the book release and your celebrations of her in it are some comfort to you now. Thanks to you Ms. Nicholas, I’m known to keep an emergency clear nail polish bottle women do ask me for and for doing yoga. Both habits started in the early 90’s when I found a little book with a woman with a big afro on the cover, a beauty guide book. I was shocked to see you wrote it. I still have it. Two lines and lessons seared into me: ladies should always have shine to our nails and if we look in the mirror to see lumps we don’t like then drop to the floor to get to work. You wrote it, a girl in Illinois cornfields never forgot it. This year I’ll help debutantes in that same town and pass those tips down to them.
This was before the era of online or celeb “influencers” on everything from food to beauty to perimenopause and beyond. Why did you think or want to write and publish this first book?
DN: During that time, I was doing a ton of “Room 222” promotion travel. The main talent traveled all over the country often visiting high schools for “stay in school” talks and things of that nature. I paid particular attention to young Black girls and felt there was a place for that kind of information for them. I know what it feels like to feel you’re not looking good. It was my intention to give teenage Black girls some direction in that area to give them inner security about self-care and good looks.
BNYC: You’re from Michigan. The Midwest is special. There is culture there that masses unfortunately simplify as simpletons and boring plains which we know as more dynamic and richer. Like I had you out in space telling me to mind my nails, I had women right there who made plains look like runways and church like fashion week. So what women or people back there got you started on how to keep yourself up and look good for life?
DN: My mother was my “guidance counselor” about self-care. She didn’t wear a ton of makeup, but she always looked good. I never saw her looking crazy bad. The other person who self-exampled was my grandmother on my dad’s side. She was a woman who did domestic work her entire adult life and never looked like she was anything but a well-off, contained, well-dressed person. She had beautiful clothes, jewelry. Always stepped out looking great.
BNYC: My people confused you and the great Dianne Carroll often. So did I in younger years. I believe there were so few Black actresses allowed to be leading women in serious dramatic roles or to play professionals. We didn’t believe there was more than one of you. Were you friends with or influenced by other women like Dianne in your unique positions and if so, who?
DN: I was aware of the dearth of examples in the media for us. My saving grace I guess was that I was in theater, after I left U. of Michigan, and there were usually older Black women actors who knew a lot about taking good care of themselves. I guess my knowledge became layered – picking up hints along the way from a variety of sources.
BNYC: We gotta address the 80’s fashion. It was a time. However, your characters on “In the Heat of the Night” and “The Rockford Files” found teachable balance between outrageous styles like headbands or huge shoulder pads and timeless fashion like tailored suits or floral dresses. How much input did you have in what your characters wore?
DN: I liked going shopping with the wardrobe mistress if I could get away from the work. I always put my two cents in on what I felt comfortable wearing. I loved “being” a guidance counselor or a city council lady. I liked the authority of these roles. I liked that they dressed conservatively. There is a layer of sensuality under that way of being.
BNYC: Black women in entertainment are still today sounding off about showing up to makeup chairs with no foundation for their complexions or proper tools for their hair. And this is as times have supposedly changed with that. I can’t imagine what it was like for you. Please share.
DN: It was often a struggle to find the products that worked well on my skin. Light-skinned Black is not white. Then you’re dealing with hot lights that wash your makeup right off your face. I would have to fuss a bit to get the base color that pumped up the color I have without turning me into something else. My hair has been plucked down to a shadow of its former self. Now I use wigs. Black women change their hair styles. I wanted some of that for my character on “Room 222.” I’m sure it drove ABC nuts. But, I did it anyway. On “Heat” there’s some changing of styles but she’s a more mature woman, more settled into her habits.
For more of Denise and all her books, visit her website DeniseNicholas.net.
