Hi...so we have been on a vacation and will be back to post more fabulous people soon. But in the meantime we've finally picked up an issue of the much hyped "black issue" of Italian Vogue. We used to subscribe and firmly believe the Ital version is the best Vogue, hands down, but this issue was a complete disappointment!
1. All the ads were white/european...and since half the magazine is ads it's not until towards the back that you get to where the black models are. (the exception being Naomi Campbell for Pinko)
2.At least 3 of the spreads each featured only one model each...and there was no spread that had 2 or models in it...which felt weird. Like we can only handle one black model at a time? We generally prefer spreads that have more than one model in them because they tell more of a story. These were a bit dull. Even those by Steven Meisel -a favorite photographer.
3. There was a piece called Outstanding Ladies which showed photos (ok there was text too but we don't know Italian) of famous black women. It seemed kind of patronizing...not only are there black models but black performers etc!
What would have been nice is if Vogue didn't seem so self-conscious and self-congratulatory about the issue. If they just treated it like a normal issue but maybe insisted that advertisers have more ethnicities in the ads in this issue and had more complex photo shoots as well. This felt awkward. Like they were the people at the party saying "Alot of my best friends are black". And as equally convincing.
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