Posts Tagged ‘black models’

I think this issue made me want to respect Elle Paris a bit more because it featured fresh content; pages and pages of portraits from some of the most talented people I admire in the fashion industry such as Victoire de Castellane, Marc Jacobs, Martin Sitbon, Stefano Pilati and Isabel Marant.

Designers that are a bit quirky, off beat, non-the-less exceptional and who chart their own territory.

But I was quickly brought back to reality and very disappointed because they didn’t bother to put a “token” black model in the mix.

The cover featured five all white and seemingly blond models Iselin Steiro, Kasia Struss, Natasha poly, Daria Strokous and Ginta Lapina.

Goes to show that we still have a long way to go in terms of diversity in the fashion industry, especially here in France.

I’m not asking for all black issues, or all white issues, but beauty is diverse and that’s not represented here.

Below, are some of my favorite portraits from the batch of designers. Click on thumbnails to see larger images.  The image quality is a bit shady, because I couldn’t get my scanner to work so I took photos of the photos.

xoxo

Model Joan Smalls wearing what I believe to be a Givenchy structured  shoulder jacket. I took this outside of the Hermes Paris show.

Talk about sharp lines. Ladies are we back to wearing softer, that is regular shoulder jackets yet?

I dear anyone else to say otherwise!

Word on the street is that Vogue Italia is planning an issue with all black models shot by Steven Meisel. Kudos to them! Now, my head is bubbling with questions:
Will advertisers follow suit and start using more diverse models?
Will other issues like American Vogue bandwagon on this idea?
And is it a lil bit too much?

Why not just make a concentrated effort to add more black models throughout the magazine over the course of some issues, instead of one single issue? Because isn’t it just going to be weird? – Which goes back to my idea of Black models not really being seen as other models, but rather “novelties” and “trendy” while the white models are seen as “constants”.

Also I hope the issue is not just with pictures of Jourdan Dunn and Chanel Iman (ok does any one know if this is her real name?) because if they work just as ardently to cast black models as they do white models, they will have no shortage of diverse beautiful black women.

Anyways a big pat on the shoulder to Vogue Italia. Lets see what becomes of this. Maybe I’m just over thinking things. What do you think?