China Machado

Noelie Dasouza Machado (25 December 1929 – 18 December 2016), known as China Machado, was a Chinese-born American fashion model, editor, and television producer. She was the first model of color to appear in a major American fashion magazine, in the February 1959 issue of Harper’s Bazaar.

Early life and career Noelie da Souza Machado was born in Shanghai, China to a Portuguese father from Macau and a Chinese mother. Her maternal grandmother was from Goa. Her parents met in Hong Kong. After World War II, her family traveled to Argentina, Peru and Spain. At the age of 19, she met the Spanish bullfighter, Luis Miguel Dominguín. When the relationship ended, Machado moved to Paris and found work modelling for Hubert de Givenchy. and ventured into other endeavors in publishing, fashion, and television. In 1989, she was added to the International Best Dressed List.

In 1991 she opened a gallery in Watermill, New York, when she left the fashion industry. Among the photographers who exhibited in the gallery were Hiro, Avedon, Lillian Bassman, Mary Ellen Mark, and Barbara Bordnick. The gallery closed in 1998, when she retired. She returned to modeling and the public eye at age 82 with an article in W From 1960 until her death, Machado resided in New York. She and her second husband lived in Sag Harbor, Long Island. She was survived by her two daughters, as well as by her second husband.