http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jezebel.com.png http://jezebel.com/tag/color blind http://jezebel.com/tag/color blind

If you like your fashion full of color and whimsy (looking at you, Mondo from Project Runway) then you'll dig the duds Prada showed in Milan today. Grab your favorite star-bellied Sneetch and check out the gallery! More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5647078&view=rss&microfeed=true

We now associate it with lady-mags and crap products, but pink was once the color of boys' clothing and battleships. Another fun fact: women supposedly like pink because it reminds us of female genitalia. [Slate, image: JeongMee Yoon] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5475522&view=rss&microfeed=true

Yale dropout-turned-model-turned-actress Joy Bryant has a column on The Huffington Post in which she writes about a run-in with fashion racism: "It was the casting for a VERY famous designer. I was on line for at least an hour or so, which SUCKS but that's what you got to do, so you do it. I finally get to the room, where the VERY famous designer is sitting at a long table with a few associates. I say hello, hand my portfolio over, and proceed to 'walk' (please reference 'Top Model'). I do so and then the VERY famous designer says to me, with a smile of course, 'Joy, you are soooo beautiful, but I'm not using black girls this season.' (Insert sound of record scratching here). Yeah, he actually said that to my 'beautiful' face." Ladies! Who do we think the VERY famous designer is? Guesses in the comments, please! [Huffington Post] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5048668&view=rss&microfeed=true

Designer Tracy Reese is in a Wall Street Journal video discussing the lack of diversity on the runways. "I think young people… If they only see one idea of beauty, that gives them an awful self-image, it's like, 'The world doesn't accept me the way I am.'" She also says "I don't think we should deal in people like they're commodities, or they're trends… Everybody has something, whether you're a model or a regular woman walking down the street. I'm always interested in that thing that makes you unique." [WSJ] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5045840&view=rss&microfeed=true

Fashion week kicks off tomorrow, and one thing we'll have our eye on is how many models of color make it on to the runways. New York's Daily News is also wondering if the media attention on the lack of diversity will make an impact on this season's shows. Reporter Patrick Huguenin interviewed several designers, and some seem optimistic: "I was pleasantly surprised this year," says Tracy Reese. "All the talk about it has made the agencies feel freer to show their whole portfolio. For a while there, it was one-note and now they might show a range that goes beyond what people might ask for." Designer Pamella Roland agrees: "Model casting has actually been easier this season," she says. But what about Jill Stuart, who was among the designers who did not use a single black, Latina or Asian model last season? More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5045431&view=rss&microfeed=true

At right is the Beyoncé/L'Oreal ad as it appeared in most magazines; at left is how it appeared in Essence. Did the ad people or publishers darken her skin for the magazine targeted at black women? Quips a blogger at Young, Black & Fabulous: "Maybe the printing machines were just off." But over at Racialicious, there's another theory about the original ad: "When filming hair, incredibly strong lamps are used to make each strand visible and shiny… Given that L’Oréal is selling a haircolor and highlights product, they undoubtedly employed a ton of lights… This is not a case of L’Oréal manipulating Beyoncé via Photoshop (at least not beyond the normal ultra-retouching done for fashion shots). Quite the opposite. L’Oréal should have used Photoshop—to restore the natural skin tone removed by the lighting." [Radar, Young, Black & Fabulous, Racialicious] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5036195&view=rss&microfeed=true

Fashion industry types are thinking about the future now that the "all black" issue of Italian Vogue is officially a "success," reports CNN. "All the agents were happy about the issue because it gives us hope that other people will catch on and decide that it's OK to use more black girls," says Carlos Ojeda, an agent at New York Models. "It's OK to have more than just one, and she doesn't have to always be Naomi." Bethan Hardison, who scheduled several summits and town hall meetings about the lack of black models in the past year and has another set for September, says: "We just have to keep the bar high and keep showing beautiful women and pictures." The question is: When do you know for sure that things have changed? [CNN] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5034358&view=rss&microfeed=true

"While tech heads on Friday lined up at the Apple store to buy the latest iPhone, fashionistas evidently hurried to newsstands across New York City to get their hands on the July Italian Vogue featuring all black models," reports WWD. A Condé Nast spokeswoman says the company increased newsstand distribution of the special issue by 40 percent in the U.S. Friday night (on my way to the commenter meetup), I walked by the newsstand on Avenue A, where I'd called and stopped in about a dozen times in search of Vogue Italia, and I jokingly shook my fist, damning the store for not having the issue. That's when I saw it in the window. I bought three copies. Flipping through the much-hyped issue is interesting: After the pull-out cover featuring four striking close ups (Liya Kebede, Sessilee Lopez, Jourdan Dunn and Naomi Campbell), the next thirteen pages of ads — for Valentino, Prada, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Dior — all feature white faces. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5024967&view=rss&microfeed=true

Ever since we first heard about the "all-black" issue of Italian Vogue, we've been in a tizzy. The magazine has still not hit in New York, but we're making friends with all the dudes at the best newsstands, who are amused as we keep calling. ("What is in this July issue?" asked one vendor. "It's special," we replied. "All black models." "Oh," he smiled. "Nice.") As for the issue: Is it good? Is it bad? It's hard to comment without actually holding a copy of the magazine in our hands. Still, an interview with Franca Sozzani, whom the Telegraph calls "the seraphic, Botticelli-haired editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia," offers some insight: More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5020728&view=rss&microfeed=true

Today's Los Angeles Times has a story about Mena Suvari, who is starring in a new film, Stuck, by Stuart Gordon. She plays Brandi, a young woman who hits a homeless man with her car late one night, sending him right through the windshield. Brandi panics and drives home (with the guy still in her windshield) and tries to go on with her life. The plot is based on a true story — the woman's name was Chante Mallard, and she hit a homeless man in 2001 after she spent an evening smoking pot, drinking and taking Ecstasy with friends. Her boyfriend later ditched the body in a park. Mallard is now serving a 50-year jail sentence. Mallard, it should be noted, is black. Mena Suvari is not. But she does wear cornrows to play the role of Brandi. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5011611&view=rss&microfeed=true

All black models look the same? Apparently Style.com editors think so! Fashionista's Britt Aboutaleb questions Style.com's ability to "tell the difference between Sasha P. and Gemma" but not between Chanel Iman (a Teen Vogue cover girl!) and Jourdan Dunn. Considering that Style.com is the "online home" of W and Vogue, two repeat offenders in our own investigation into the lack of black models in magazines this doesn't really surprise us. Maybe this is what happens when Vogue MainGay, Andre Leon-Talley, isn't on hand to point out who-is-who of the three black models in the fashion world! [Fashionista] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=358271&view=rss&microfeed=true

More proof that black people all look alike to rich, self-involved WASPs. Yesterday, The Office actress and celebrity-spawn Rashida Jones dropped by Martha Stewart's show for a crash-course in Mother's Day present-making. This morning, the fruits of Rashida's labor were revealed, as Martha proudly exhibited the plaster-mold made for "Rashida's mom, Diana Ross". (Rashida's mom, of course, is Peggy Lipton). Later on in the broadcast, Martha admitted, "I was thinking... I don't know what I was thinking." Well we've got a few ideas! More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=256738&view=rss&microfeed=true