Vouge Italia: The Black Issue

Next month, African Model Liya Kebede will grace the cover of Vouge Italia with a fold out including models Sesilee Lopez, Jourdan Dunn and Naomi Campbell with photography by Steven Meisel in celebration of it's much talked about 'Black Issue'.
The fashion industry has been criticized for ages due to the lack of black models featured on the runways and magazine editorials. Italian Vogue Editor, Franca Sozzani, stated “mine is not a magazine that can be accused of not using black girls”, pointing out that she has featured Naomi Campbell, Liya Kebede and Alek Wek on her covers over the years.
Naomi Campbell by Steven Meisel
“Franca doesn’t realize what she’s done for people of color,” Campbell said who is featured in 20 pictures. “It reminds me of Yves (Saint laurent) using all the black models.”
Yves St. Laurent with Mounia
Tyra Banks by Steven Meisel
In a reverse of the general pattern of fashion magazines, all the faces in the July issue of Italian Vogue, and all the feature topics are related to black women in the arts and entertainment.
Other black models who were photographed for Vogue Italia include Alek Wek, Alva Chin, Arlenis Sosa Pena, Chanel Iman, Gail O’Neil, Iman, Karen Alexander, Tyra Banks, Veronica Webb, and Yasmin Warsame.
Sessilee Lopez
Chanel Iman
Liya Kebede
Read the full NYTimes article here.
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