Vogue Italia Black Issue - Attention Seeking or Change Leading?
There’s been a whole heap of noise about Vogue Italy’s Black issue, which features all black models. It is apparently the publication’s highest selling issue.
Was it simply a publicity stunt, an effort for Vogue Italy to exploit the issues around the use of black models in fashion for their own gain or was it a genuine effort on their part to draw attention to a real problem within the fashion industry?
According to the editor they were just trying to come up with something new and unconventional, so it was probably a bit of both. Hey - that’s what you call good marketing!
What I’m more interested in whether or not the following few editions of Vogue Italy - or any other international Vogue edition - will feature more black models. If it doesn’t - and I doubt it will - this could easily be written off as a tokenistic effort that has little to do with highlighting the issues surrounding black models in fashion and more to do with just creating an edition that would sell well. Of course, there is nothing actually wrong with that. Vogue is a business and its aim is to make money.
Secondly, how much of an impact will this have on the fashion industry’s attitudes towards black models? Realistically, it’s doubtful that the the fashion industry will do an about-turn based solely on this one edition of Vogue Italy with black models. It is not as if they have never heard of this issue before. Naomi Campbell and top designer Vivienne Westwood have spoken out publicly about racism in fashion.
At the end of the day, this all comes down to economics and one edition does proves little. If Vogue Italy included more black models in their publication for a year or two and saw a positive effect on their advertising revenues and sales, over the long term, that might make the fashion industry sit up and take notice. Whilst this one edition has sold, it must be asked who bought it, and for what reason? Are these the same people who usually buy the magazine?
The bottom line is that one issue changes nothing. Although I am happy that Vogue Italy ran the issue, it does not mark a watershed in the fashion industry. What will mark a fashion breakthrough is when black models are accepted and used on catwalks and in magazines at the levels they should be. What will make a fashion breakthrough is when advertisers believe that using black models in mainstream publications is good for their brands and their image, and that white female readers are not averse to seeing black women as beauty icons.
What I’d like to see from now is a concerted effort from the mainstream fashion industry to have fair representation of black models. What I’d also like to see is black people with an interest in fashion taking matters into their own hands and opening up magazines or online publications that feature black models. One of the most disheartening things I found when reading the coverage of this Vogue Italy issue was that there was a lot of complaining - particularly amongst black readers - and very little solution-providing. At the end of the day, if a major publication isn’t going to do it, who is?
I applaud Vogue Italy for the Black issue, but honestly I fail to see what difference it’s going to make in solving the real issue of the underepresentation of black models in fashion as whole. Hopefully, however, the conversation sparked by the issue is one that is being taken seriously in fashion circles…For now, though, I will probably stick to reading Essence.
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[...] Lola Adesioye Tags: Black Models, Concerted Effort, Economics, Fashion Industry, Lola, Mainstream, Vogue [...]