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Crossing the Blues

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Naomi for YSL Fall '08


The collection won't be in stores until July 8th but here is a sneak peek at the ad campaign featuring Naomi Campbell.  The ads were photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin and they should be commended for making those sequined genie pants look so good. I didn't care much for the collection as it was presented on the runway. It felt like it was designed for women from the future who listen to techno music and don't like to smile. That said there are still two or three pieces that I would shove in my bag if they fell off the back of a delivery truck. Take a peek at the rest of the collection on Style.com or here.

ads scanned and uploaded by oh jane (thank you!)

Lots of Ink Devoted to Italian Vogue



The issue still hasn't hit the stands in the US but it's garnering a lot of attention.

Stereohyped asks "Is Going the All-Black Route a Superficial Answer to Fashion's Problems?"

The Telegraph devotes space to the issue with two new articles: "Prêt-à-rapporter: A black and white vision of modelling" and this piece.

Jezebel wonders if the issue will solve the "black model" problem once and for all.

I'm already tired of talking about it, I just want to see it already!

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Naruto Manga 327


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Jada Pinkett Smith and Keisha Whitaker @ Nelson Mandela's Birthday Celebration




I absolutely adore this peacock inspired dress by Monique Lhuiller on Jada Pinkett Smith. Once again, a garment that looks merely passable on a runway model comes to life on a real life woman. I would never have thought that this particular shade would look so lovely on darker skin. Also, heavens be praised Jada's hair seems to have recovered from her disturbing Foghorn Leghorn period.
I have slightly mixed feelings about Keisha Whitaker's choice here. I've always admired her style and I love the Lanvin dress but I think it would have been nice to see her wear it in a brighter color, like the red version on Lily Donaldson. The black just looks a little too somber for the occassion.
source: Dlisted and DeonDiva

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Editor's Letter - July 1997 - Vogue Magazine

Letter from the Editor
Fashion's New Face

Within limits, Americans are exceedingly tolerant. We pride ourselves on our "live and let live" ethic, and it's probably safe to say that we show more respect for racial diversity than any other country in the West. The kinds of hideous public insults that Jackie Robinson endured 50 years ago are now virtually unknown in the United States, although they can still be heard on Saturday afternoons at rowdy soccer matches in Great Britain. While there continue to be unrepentant racists in the States, of course, they do not have the necessary mainstream support to mount major political parties that capture significant portions of the vote - as they do in France and Germany.
That said, American is a country of people with varied backgrounds, many of whom are not above exposing their racial biases. In terms of fashion magazines, for example, it is a fact of life that the color of a model's skin (or hair, for that matter) dramatically affects newsstand sales. Although it is rare for an issue of Vogue to go to the printer without one or more black models featured prominently inside, black models appear less often than I, and many of you, would like on Vogue's covers - which, no one will be shocked to hear, are designed to appeal to as large a group of potential readers as possible. This month, we feature a young, fresh-faced black model named Kiara Kabukuru on our cover, and I am crossing my fingers that Kiara will be embraced by magazine buyers everywhere - not because she's black but because she's beautiful.

Anna Wintour


Eleven years ago, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, featured Ugandan model Kiara Kabukuru (photographed by Steven Meisel) on the cover of the traditionally low selling July issue of American Vogue. I excerpted her letter here because it’s something that I find myself referring to often on this blog and I wanted everyone to be able to read Ms. Wintour’s words as she wrote them. What is interesting to me is that in spite of the fact that Wintour believes Europe is so much more intolerant that the United States, Kiara appeared on several fashion magazine covers there, including the French and Spanish editions of Vogue. To the best of my knowledge, neither of the editors of those magazines, printed letters begging their readers to “embrace” Kiara in spite of her blackness. Also, as a magazine editor with control of which models appear inside the issue as well as outside, Ms. Wintour puts the onus for change and acceptance directly onto the reader and not herself.

In the July 2008 issue of Vogue, which features an article called “Is Fashion Racist,” Ms. Wintour doesn’t refer to the piece, or this 1997 cover at all which surprised me. For all the criticism heaped on Vogue magazine lately, and Vogue Italia’s decision to dedicate their July issue to black models, I thought for sure she would use this issue as an opportunity to stand on her studded Balenciaga soap box and pat herself on the back for being so inclusive.

But there was nothing, which is probably just as well since really, after 10+ years what could she possibly say?



Photo Source: TFS

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NYT: Caribbean Fashion Week


Carribean Fashion week may not be as well known at those in New York, Milan and Paris but it sure looks like it would be a lot more fun to attend. C.F.W. is a rarity in that it shows no signs of androgyny. Yanking up their bold Yardmanstyle t-shirts, the Jamaican male models flashed physiques that caused mass hysteria in the audience. And the heavenly bodies of the vari-hued Nubian catwalk beauties appeared to be silicone-free.

It remains to be seen whether Caribbean designers can achieve the same level of success that the region’s models are currently enjoying. As T & T’s Meiling said, summing up the spirit of the week: “Versace, Vuitton, Gucci — they all use Caribbean motifs and Caribbean music is everywhere. Now it’s time to make it happen in fashion for ourselves.”


Source
Thanks Camille for sending me the link!

caribbeanfashionweek.com

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Vogue Asks, "Is Fashion Racist?"


"Are we still talking about this in 2008?" asks Iman in an irate voice kicking off the "Is Fashion Racist?" article in the July issue of Vogue. I've certainly pondered that question myself over the past few years and I am sure that many other fashion enthusiasts have as well.

Really, why is it that an industry such as this one known for embracing a variety of outlandish personalities and ideas is so blind when it comes to putting new faces in its clothes, on its runways or in its magazines. For example, I’ve lost count of how many times I've seen designer Philip Lim glorified on the pages of fashion tomes but I struggle to remember when I last saw and Asian model featured in a multi-page editorial. In spite of the fact that Pat McGrath, Andre Leon Talley, photographer Mark Baptist and designers like Tracey Reese are influential enough to sit at the proverbial table, that diversity hasn't tricked down to model employment office. This seems to suggest that people of other races are welcome to provide the glitz for a shoot but must never be the one to wear the accessories.

I think about this topic often and it's become the main focus of my blog because it wasn't like this when I was growing up and first became enamored with fashion. I still remember the day my English teacher brought in a stack of old ELLE magazines to give away and I got my first taste of it. I spent hours pouring over those images back then. It was superficial and I knew but I didn’t care. It still meant something to me. Seeing the Beverly Peele on the cover of Seventeen when I was in high school back then made me feel good. It made me feel included in that fabulous something even though my bi-level two toned jheri curl was decidedly not happening. Side note: I still haven’t forgiven my mother for making get a jheri curl. I honestly think of it as child abuse.

My fashion jones followed me to college where I always had the latest pictures of Naomi Campbell tacked to my mirror for fierce make up inspiration. But then it seemed, things started to reverse themselves. Instead of marching forward and including larger cross section of ethnicities, fashion started marching backwards. The change was slow but deliberate. Black models became less visible as lighter skinned, more racially ambiguous Brazilian beauties hit the scene. They started dropping off too, save Gisele, in favor of Eastern European models, each new batch even more nondescript than the previous seasons.

Nowadays, when I talk about how it used to be I feel like an old woman rocking on my porch talking about the good ole' days when they let us colored folk take pretty pictures.

In the article the author, Vicki Woods, writes that "[Vogue] magazine exists to inspire women," but I wonder is she's actually been looking at the same magazine that I have. Except for the odd issue that gets is right, most of what I see in Vogue is far from inspiring. While I will admit to coveting certain pricey items but I don't think I've looked at a model in Vogue and wanted to trade places with her since the Summer’s Bare Necessities shoot and that was in 1992.

I agree with Woods where she suggests that one simply cannot compare the supermodels of the 90's who "looked equal but different as they thundered down the runway" to the unhappy mass of similarly styled European models "who look pretty much alike." Even Sarah Doukes of Storm Models remarked "It's a naughty thing to say, because I've got some beautiful Eastern European girls, but to be honest, when I go in cars with them in Paris, I do get snow blinded."

Bethann Hardison was so angered by the situation that she emailed Iman writing "Did you realize that over the last decade black models have been reduced to a category?" The two called a series of town-hall style meeting titled "Out of Fashion: The Absence of Color" held at the New York Public Library. Countless models told stories about being rejected for jobs, not because their particular "look" or walk was a problem, but solely based on the fact that they were black. Liya Kebede shared that she has had "experience with people who did not want to work with me because I was black..really, truly." In any other industry, that would be a racist remark, and you would be taken to court for it!" After those meetings the wheels started to turn and the issue garnered more attention.

Models, especially the ones lucky enough to be earning a living as models, are reluctant to name names. So when Jourdan Dunn famously asked, "why are our catwalks so white?" it made international fashion news. Except that she didn't actually say it, professional celebrity offspring Kelly Osbourne did. Jourdan shares "She was at the Topshop show, and she said it to a journalist, who ran out and did a telephone interview with me. She said, 'Do you agree?' And I said, 'Yes, it's true."

Even as models of the moment like Jourdan Dunn, Chanel Iman, and blazing Dominican newcomer Arlenis Sosa, are making inroads, they still face opposition but from where? This is where the article falls short, unable to point the finger at anyone in particular. Certainly not at Anna Wintour, who isn't even mentioned in the piece and presumably prefers to let her covers do the talking. Wintour doesn’t even bother to mention the article in her editorial.

So back to the blame game... Is it the photographers? No, according to Mario Testino. He says that photographers just "react to the supply." Is it the designers then? Some of whom seem to think black bodies are all wrong for the clothes. Alber Elbaz of Lanvin says no no, not him. "I try all different dresses and when I see only the face of the girl-and the dress disappears-I know it's the best dress for her." Huh? He goes on to say that he was "trained" to use black models. "I loved them from the time I worked at [YSL]; he always used black models." Because I'm thinking something is lost in translation there so I'm not going to go on too much about why someone has to be trained to see black people as a viable option. It's getting a little too Haley Joel Osment in here for my taste.

Well, that leaves the casting agents (the gays are spared the finger pointing in this article.) Russell Marsh, who does casting for Prada and is very influential in the industry isn't asked why there was a ten-year gap in between Naomi's last walk for the design house and Jordan Dunn's. He's asked why he chose her. His unsatisfying answer pays lip service to her elegance and confidence being right for that particular show and then goes on to talk about how important it is that the clothes are not overshadowed as they were during the age of the supermodels.

Seriously, people talk about the AGE OF THE SUPERMODELS like it's prehistoric or something. Last time I look around, most of those big names were still making money and to the best of my knowledge no one has successfully performed carbon dating on Naomi Campbell. Iman rightfully called bullsh*t on that saying, "You don't want to look like these [current] models, you don't want to emulate them." Models exist to be muses and to make women want to buy the overpriced clothes they wear.

James Scully, who casts for Tom Ford blames celebrity culture. "When it's tough for models, it's really tough for black models." While it is true that it's rare to find a model and not an actress on a fashion magazine cover these days, Hollywood has it's own problems when it comes to diversity.

Anyway, it seems the bottom line is that dour faced robotic beauties are in and models with unique looks and personalities are out. My question is that if designers really believe that their clothes are best represented on blank canvas models. Why is the canvas always white? Why not runway shows populated by say, Asian models of similar builds, styled the exact same way or black models grouped together for the similarity in their features? They are certainly not above exploiting a model's race to grab attention. How can a group of professionals famed for thinking outside the box be so narrowly focused at the same time?

So where does that leave someone like me? While I am pleased to see models like Arlenis getting a break my enthusiasm for these things has dampened considerably. Often I will read comments from people who are puzzled as to why people like me bother getting upset about these things in the first place. "Why should I care about that white magazine and whether or not they put black people in it?" is a common refrain. I admit that there are some days that I feel the same way. Especially nowadays when I'm more informed and entertained by fashion blogs than I am by print magazines.

On the flip side, another part of me still longs for a time when I can pick up a magazine on the stands, read about fashion and see an array of images representing all types of beauty not just black or white. I don’t feel that any kind of change like this will occur if people stop complaining and give up. These old habits die hard. So while I am still hotly anticipating getting my hands on a copy of Italian Vogue, I still reserve the right to complain about it once I've seen it for myself. I can’t help it. I'm old and cranky and I’m a decade away from yelling at kids to get off my lawn. At the very least, I know there are people who feel the same way that I do and I know how comforting it is to read bitching online that could have come from ones own mouth. So this is for the two dozen of you who read this site and feel like I do. Cranky is the new black.

The Vogue Files

Source: Television Without Pity

Erykah Badu for Tom Ford's White Patchouli


Gorgeous and aspirational. I normally hate the smell of pathchouli but I really need to smell this juice after eyeballing at this Erykah Badu advertisement. It was shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott and will debut in September issues of fashion and lifestyle magazines. I like this so much better than those sweaty body part ads for Tom Ford's other frag. Damn, I can't stop looking at this picture.

Image source: kimair

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She's Got the Look: Runway Challenge


Yeah I know. I said last time that I wouldn't do regular recaps of TV Land's modeling reality show, "She's Got the Look." But after the whole Paula debacle from last week, I felt the need for some kind of closure which we all know, is best done via blogging.

For one, I still can't believe that Sharon, the spunky 63 year old is gone. Her absence makes me call bullsh*t on this entire competition. I mean, she was lovely, had lots of personality and a good back story. Don't these people know how reality shows operate? She should have won the whole thing!

Anyway, it turns out that I wasn't alone in my grief because at the beginning of this week's show, super svelt model Karin is visibly upset about Sharon's ouster too. Karin (who has an accent that up until now I've never noticed) tearfully remarks that she and Sharon had become good friends during their time on the show (which I'm guessing was three days max. ) She is incensed when resident bitch Roxanne plops herself down on Sharon's now vacant bed because, in her own words, she was too lazy to make up her own bed. Karin thinks this is extremely disrepectful and sobs while telling Roxanne to move her ass. Karin kind of reminds me of Sveltlana, the one legged Russian with whom Tony has a brief affair on The Sopranos. I really miss that show and I loved Svetlana so now I'm warming up to Karin.

Later Celeste, the hot 50 year old who won't let you forget she's a hot 50 year old, reminds the ladies that this is a competition. Why is it that on every competitive reality show there always one contestant that feels the need to remind everyone of this fact over and over again?

House mother Tanya thinks Celeste has a certain "hardness to her" and asks her why she keeps reminding everyone that this is a competition when it's pretty damn obvious with, you know, the challenges and cameras and all. Celeste mumbles something about it being a competition (again) and not taking these little relationships seriously. She actually says in an extremely annoying voice "It's a comp-e-tition BAY-beeeee" and she draws out that eeeeee sound for dramatic effect. It makes me want to slap that ugly ass argyle sweater off of her impressively hot 50 year old body.

At the site of the first challenge 80s model Kim Alexis (wearing a turquoise blue satin short sleeved button-up blouse in a snakeskin print that looks as busy as it sounds) reveals to the women that the challenge will be of the runway variety. She introduces a special coach and guest judge...none other than Roshumba.

You know what I think is weird? Roshumba sported short natural hair when no one else was rocking it and now that you can't walk ten paces at the mall without smacking face first into someone's two strand twists, braids, afro puff or locs, Rosumba is wearing a relaxer. She looks good though and hasn't aged a day, unlike her ex husband Gary Dourdan who's been looking a bit musty lately. Anyway, she explains different types of walks to the ladies including the "new school" walk which apparently is all in how you cross. The challenge is that the women must fashion a dress out of burlap and rope and then make it work on the runway. Haven't we seen this type of challenge a million times already?

When all is clipped and done the looks are unvieled. Hope (who has found her niche as the show's comic relief) takes the stage in an outift no doubt inspired by those old 1960s Hercules movies. Her walk is old school Cruella DeVille and when Roshumba asks her who she is wearing she says Versace, but she pronounces it Ver-saw-shhh which reminded me of Nomi Malone in "Showgirls" and her VERS-ace dress.

Karin takes the stage like a cracked out disco gypsy much to everyone's amusement. She finishes by doing the robot which only made me love her more because she was being serious. Tanya's dress looks like it was made by the wardrobe mistress from 10,000 BC. Bahia, inspired by 60s Chanel, manages to put together something decent. She said a few things but I get so enraptured listening to her smokey voice that I forgot to write it down. I don't remember anything about Melissa's dress but the woman has great legs. Celeste manages to walk and silently judge everyone in the room at the same time. She's like that woman at church on Easter Sunday who goes out of her way to make sure she has the biggest and most unique hat and when people compliment her on it she's like "what? this old thing? I almost threw it out!

Then there's Paula, who shares that she bought her first pair of heels 6 months prior to the show. To put it nicely, the woman walks like a cat with a severe case of rickets. Because everyone is still afraid of her from last week, no one says anything catty.

Back at the apartment Beverly Johnson drops by. Remember when Bev was dating Mr. Big? Anyway, she comes over and brings a big box of wigs with her.Tanya dives headfirst into the box and emerges with a sassy and short blonde wig. Roxanne puts a longer blonde wig on her own head and somehow comes out looking 15 years older. The camera then shows Paula fussing with a cropped reddish wig. Even though Bev picked this wig especially for Paula she doesn't like it and thinks it makes her looks like Aretha Franklin. She clearly wants a longer wig and in the end slaps a shoulder length number on her head to salve the pain.

Now it's time for Bev to sit everyone down to play a game of self-exploitation and reveal something no one else knows about them to the group (and the 12 viewers of the show.)

Celeste volunteers to go first and tells everyone that she's 50. Just kidding. She reveals that she plays the saxophone. Big whoop. Bahia shares that growing up in a Muslim family, she wasn't comfortable being a girl at times and still doesn't know quite how to express herself. Karin feels her pain and shares that she too had these issues because her father a farmer and a boxer or something but then she starts crying and I can't understand what she's saying but she and Bahia hug so I guess they felt healing.

Tanya shares that people always thought she was pretty growing up and then one day when she was 13 some girls jumped her and stabbed her 7 times.

I know, HOLY SH*T, right?

How do you feel about sharing your sax story now Celeste? Thanks for opening up about that one.

Who can share after that revelation? Paula tries to steal some shine and adds that she didn't know that that kind of stuff happened to pretty people and oh, by the way, she doesn't feel pretty either (yeah, we know Paula!) Roxanne, whom I am sure thought that she would finish big, shares that she was in a loveless marriage and didn't believe in divorce until you know, she got divorced. She's wearing Paula's discarded wig (which makes her look 60) and does her best to cry her way back into the spotlight but it ain't working. Did your husband stab you 7 times? No? Then STFU!

Final challenge time. The ladies must impress on a runway for a real audience of unenthusiastic production assistants and the judges. They are introduced to their host, runway coach Paul Morton. Paul has a headful of bouncy reddish brown ringlets like Rachel True. He must go through a tub of Curly Pudding every three days.

Immediately, we discover that Paula has a problem. Remember those heels she bought 6 months ago? Well, it turns out that they aren't actually heels, they're more akin to a broke down pair of Payless wedges and she's going to have to learn to walk in the real thing for the show. Isn't this something that should have been taken care of during the auditions?

Celeste feins surprised that the contestants will have to wear swimsuits on the runway. "Oh my God," she say, "who told them to put swimsuits on models over 35!" Then we see her in a two piece and she looks incredible, she also gets to share with the fitter that she's 50! Can you believe it? Celeste is like that hardbody chick in the dressing room at Target that feels the need to pop out and examine her body in the three way mirror in full view of everyone. She's only doing this to get compliments. "My ass looks so big in this doesn't it?...No? I look amazing and flawless...okay well, if YOU say so!" These women are bitches to the bone.

That beauty salon guy from last week is back and getting his revenge on Paula. Not only is her foundation a good 4 shades darker than it should be but he slaps a blonde wig on her head. Here's something about Paula that maybe you didn't notice at first. She has no neck and what little she does have is completely hidden by this wig. The overall effect makes her look like Hightower from those Police Academy movies sans the mustache.

Onto the show. Roxanne makes an ass of herself, slinking onto the stage like an extra from Bordello of Blood. Celeste walks like she has a bladder infection. Karin is akward as hell and Paula...well, we knew this was coming, Paula clomps onto the stage like a Clydesdale in kitten heels. It is truly awful and very comical. Roshumba can barely hold her sh*t together watching the display. Worst still, at one point it looks like Paula may be winking at the audience but it also kind of looks like an eyelash just came loose.

I promised myself that I wouldn't laught at Paula this week and yet here I am, on the floor cracking up. I won't spoil the ending for you but dayum, there is just no defending that walk.

NYT: Conspicuous by Their Presence




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? That an African-American is the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party?
The answer is the individual eye. NYT


Naomi Campbell, according to the article, was set to appear in just four photographs for the highly anticipated July Vogue Italia issue. That number magically turned into twenty. Mr. Meisel was allotted 100 pages for his project.
While I'm sure that all of the photographs of Ms. Campbell are beautiful but I'm bothered that in an issue that is supposed to celebrate diversity, the go-to model is still the one black model that ruins the curve for the rest of them. Naomi is a pop icon and a bonofide celebrity. Although she is incredibly beautiful and an amazing model, she has also been the only bonofide superstar of her hue in this industry for a very long time. While designers routinely give six figure contracts to no name European models, Naomi is the only dark skinned girl that has that kind of earning power. Because she is a household name and an instantly recognizable face she is safe. People may snicker about her run-ins with the law and personal problems but, like Kate Moss, she is an undsiputed fashion champion. Her inclusion and prominence in this issue is representative of the "tokenism", "laziness" and "paranoia" that this industry has been soaking in for years like a manicurist's bowl of Parmolive.
Other models featured in the issue include Iman, Naomi Campbell, Alek Wek, Liya Kebede, Pat Cleveland, Jourdan Dunn, Sessilee Lopez, Chanel Iman, Veronica Webb, Tocarra Jones, and Karen Alexander.
When asked about the inclusion of Sessilee Lopez, Meisel remarked that he used her because "Because nobody gives her a chance.” I couldn't help but wonder after reading that if other relatively unknown models would be given that chance in this issue. It comes out on Thursday in Europe and soon after in the US. I'm anxiously awaiting the issue, of course, but I wonder if any of the faces represented will also appear in the phone book sized September issues of Vogue.

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