Binside TV: VOGUE

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Can the new trend at Vogue to feature African-American women on the cover be attributed to the Michelle Obama effect? Last year Vogue Italia featured an entire issue with Black models photographed by famed photographer Steven Meisel.

It's official: The "all black" issue of Italian Vogue is a hit. According to Time magazine's Jeff Israely, "After the original run of the July issue sold out in the U.S. and U.K. in 72 hours, Vogue Italia has just rushed to reprint 30,000 extra copies for American newsstands, another 10,000 for Britain and 20,000 more in Italy. [jezebel]

We're happy to see that fashion is featuring more diversity by showing the beauty of women of color. Congrats to Liya Kebede and Jourdan Dunn! READ MORE...

The May cover of Vogue is special because it features models instead of celebrities. This year's May issue, shot by Steven Meisel, is extra special because it marks the third month in a row that a woman of color appears on the cover (Beyoncé appeared on April's cover, Michelle Obama appeared on March's cover).

Liya Kebede appears on the front of the May issue, while Jourdan Dunn appears on the foldout. From left to right, the models are: Liya Kebede, Natalia Vodianova, Anna Jagodzinska, Isabeli Fontana, Lara Stone, Jourdan Dunn, Raquel Zimmermann, Caroline Trentini, and Natasha Poly. [NY MAG]

Vogue Italia is releasing a special July issue featuring only Black models and shot by legendary photographer Steven Meisel. The issue will showcase about 100 pages featuring top models like Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, Liya Kebede ,Chanel Iman,Jourdan Dunn, Alek Wek, Pat Cleveland and ANTM participant Toccara Jones. American Vogue will address the subject of the lack of Black models in the fashion industry in an upcoming issue. We think this Italian Vogue issue is groundbreaking and a great step for the industry. The Vogue Italia issue is only the beginning because each season Black models and models of color are becoming less visible on the runway. The other eleven months of the Vogue year will see a lack of Black models or diversity in their issues or covers.

Watch a Montage of Italian Vogue Covers

Italian Vogue has broken one of the fashion world's taboos by featuring only black models in its July issue. The pictures by New-York based Steven Meisel, one of the most successful photographers in the industry, fill about 100 pages of the magazine, and are accompanied by features on black women in the arts and entertainment. The absence of black models on the covers of fashion magazines has long been a complaint inside the industry. The justification frequently given is that such covers "do not sell". source

RACIAL prejudice in the fashion industry has long persisted because of tokenism and lookism. “We already have our black girl,” says a designer to a fashion-show casting agent, declining to see others. Or: “She doesn’t have the right look.” Laziness, paranoia and pedantry may also have something to do with the failure to hire black models for shows and magazine features in any meaningful number, but, hey, that’s just a guess.

A decade ago the thing to deplore was the stereotyping of black models by dressing them in African-inspired clothes (or the Asian girls in kimonos). This at least gave work to minority models, but it also encouraged a Western view of African culture of the many-bangles-many-beads variety.

O.K., so fashion ain’t deep. It looks into a mirror and sees ... itself. The irony in fashion is that it loves change but it can’t actually change anything. It can only reflect a change in the air. But what changes fashion? What would finally move American designers to include more black models on their runways? That 30 percent of the country is nonwhite? That black women spend $20 billion a year on clothes?

For the July issue of Italian Vogue, Mr. Meisel has photographed only black models. In a reverse of the general pattern of fashion magazines, all the faces are black, and all the feature topics are related to black women in the arts and entertainment. Mr. Meisel was given roughly 100 pages for his pictures. The issue will be on European newsstands next Thursday and in the United States soon after.

Under its editor, Franca Sozzani, Italian Vogue has gained a reputation for being more about art and ideas than commerce. Ms. Sozzani also doesn’t mind controversy.

She said that, as an Italian, she has been intrigued by the American presidential race and Mr. Obama, which was one source of inspiration when she and Mr. Meisel began discussing, in February, the idea of an all-black issue. Also, she was aware of the lack of diversity on the runways in recent years and the debate it fueled last fall in New York, where Bethann Hardison, a former model who ran a successful agency, held two panel discussions on the topic. source

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