The Supremes’ founding member talks about the girl group’s influential
fashion and the lack of hate in the Motown family
Mary Wilson, 75, was a founding member of the Supremes, with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard. At their 1960s peak, with Detroit-based Motown records, the Supremes rivalled the Beatles. Wilson’s 1986 autobiography, Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme, was a bestseller. She had three children (one of whom, Rafael, 16, died when the Jeep Cherokee his mother was driving overturned on a highway in 1994). Meeting to discuss her new book Supreme Glamour, a sartorial history of the Supremes, Wilson is friendly, warm and delighted to be back in
Britain, where she first toured in the 1960s, later living here for a while: “I fell in love with it here – I thought I was going to marry an Englishman!” Featuring creations from designers from Michael Travis to
You call the Supremes “the original pop fashionistas”.We were! You can look at
Beyoncé, and I’m sure it wasn’t she who copied us, but her mother would have grown up with the Supremes. We loved to dress up. Other girls, like the Shirelles, wore gowns, but our clothes were like couture.