If there was a gala or awards ceremony going on somewhere during the last 15 years of actor Cicely Tyson's life, she was probably there, and if she was there, she was wearing B Michael. In the truly special Muse: Cicely Tyson and Me: A Relationship Forged in Fashion, Michael recounts the looks he created for Tyson, the impressions she made while wearing his clothes, and their adoring friendship.
Tyson (1924-2021) was 80 when she met the designer in their home city of New York in 2005: she needed an outfit for Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball. Michael made her a showstopping number and became her go-to designer. He dressed Tyson when Barack Obama gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Michael dressed Tyson (other designers wanted to) when she accepted her honorary Oscar in 2018. Michael never disappointed Tyson, and Tyson, who had begun her career as a model, never disappointed Michael: she had the poise and adventurous spirit to pull off every look, and the photographic evidence abounds in the glossy pages of Muse.
Michael is fully aware of the significance of working with the trailblazing Black actor. About dressing Tyson for her 2019 appearance on the cover of Time magazine, he writes, "I knew how important it was for me... as a Black American fashion designer" to "have my dress on this cover. Once again, Cicely and I would quietly and effectively move the needle of history." Muse, their last collaboration, gives that needle one final nudge. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer