The tag line is — of course — "Be caught dead in it." But this is far from the first time fashion has sought to draw female customers with images of dead women.

Back in 2007, for "cycle" 8 of America's Next Top Model, Tyra Banks had the cast pose as murder victims for a shoot. You can see the whole series of images here, should you want to.

But as in most things, Banks was just taking inspiration from a long-established fashion trend. Plenty of photographers have aestheticized violence. While this model in Steven Meisel's September, 2007, "Make Love Not War" spread for Vogue Italia might not be dead — yet — she's clearly pictured in the midst of a violent attack.

Is it better or worse that Steven Klein, for his part, spreads his depictions of violent death across gender lines? That's Kevin Federline, by the way.

Copyranter points to this Fall, 2006, Jimmy Choo campaign as another antecedent for the Superette images.

Not to mention this Duncan Quinn ad, which practically approaches snuff film territory.

Then there was this August, 2007, spread in W magazine, featuring model Doutzen Kroes.

Photographers Mart Alas & Marcus Piggott captured Kroes in a variety of poses that all strongly implied she had recently been the victim of violence.

You can see the rest of the creepy story at Glossed Over. So if this troubling theme isn't even original or "edgy," why are we still creating and consuming these images?

This is a Helmut Newton photograph from the early 90s.

How, as women's rights have increased and progress has been made in the West across every rubric of measurement, have we moved from fashion photography that, while still glamorizing violence, at least showed us as the ones with the guns, to an aesthetic that promotes death as the ultimate symbol of female subservience?

Dead Is The New Black, Again [Copyranter]

A tipster with an enviable magazine collection pointed us to this spread, which is still viewable on the American photographer's website. (It's collected with his 2005 editorial work for the magazine.)

In addition to often exploring themes of sexual violence and power in his work, Klein has a certain habit of changing models' skin tones with makeup. In September, 2008, American Vogue printed an editorial that featured the white Brazilian model Caroline Trentini painted the color of burnt Cheetos; earlier this year, in some work for Vogue Paris, Klein had Dutch model Lara Stone posed with male models who were made up alternately in a deep tan, presumably to contrast with her very fair skin, or in matte yellow and red. This month, of course, it is Stone whom Klein photographed in blackface.

Racialicious ran a persuasive post earlier this week that argued that these kinds of images, where white women are made to appear black, actually further white privilege:

"[W]hat is on display in French Vogue...is not beautiful black bodies, but what Nirmal Puwar describes as 'the universal empty point' that white female bodies are able to occupy precisely because their bodies are racially unmarked."

Because as long as white remains the "default" race — the ethnicity that isn't — temporarily portraying them as black doesn't prove we live in a post-racial society: it just demonstrates that white people are permitted to play with racial categories in ways that people of color are generally not.

Also, there remains the issue of real black models, and the continued discrimination they face. Jourdan Dunn recently told Teen Vogue about being turned away from a casting at the last minute because the client had simply opted not to use any black models that season; although since we started counting models of color at New York Fashion Week, the level of overall diversity has improved, it is still very much a concern. The issue of Vogue Paris that featured Klein's blackface editorial with Stone, the so-called "Supermodels" issue, had no models of color.

This issue of Italian Vogue also had zero models of color in its editorial pages. None.

The fashion world's myopia when it comes to diversity — which is the underlying problem here — is also clouding some people's reactions to the Vogue Paris spread.

"I have a hard time reading 'race' into this," says a puzzled Teri Agins, the Wall Street Journal's veteran fashion reporter.

Elizabeth Gates, in an insightful essay, compares the Paris Vogue spread to "a modern minstrel show," but says, as a black woman working in fashion, she is utterly unsurprised by Steven Klein's photography and Carine Roitfeld's editorial choices: "I would be fooling myself if I thought the draftsmen behind fashion's most beautiful things were ever going to be sensitive to race, black women, or how they represent our cultural history. In fact, I'm not exactly sure why this was a shock to anyone." Elle's Anne Slowey admits, "It's an industry filled with people who have no idea about history and politics."

Maybe it's time to start learning.

Steven Klein [Official Website]
Blackface And The Violence Of Revulsion [Racialicious]
Back To Blackface [Daily Beast]
Duh! Of Course Fashion's Racist [Daily Beast]

Earlier: Oh No They Didn't: French Vogue Does Blackface
Self-Reflection: A Bizarre, Macabre Short Story Brought to You By Vogue
February French Vogue: Steven Klein Model Zombies & NSFW Nan Goldin
Fashion Week Runways Were Almost A Total Whitewash
How Did New York Fashion Week's 116 Shows Treat Models Of Color?

• Barneys' Simon Doonan: "Criticizing Ed Hardy for being cheesy is like saying that Elvis was 'flashy' or that Liberace was 'tacky.' It's a giant case of DUH! Of course it's cheesy! That's the whole point, you doo-doo heads." [NY Observer]

• "Ed Hardy is fromage-y and hedonistic and naughty and badass and-the ultimate crime in the world of haute fashion — Ed Hardy is FUN!" Doonan, in his entertaining op-ed dissection of the concept of "good taste," paused to riff on Christian Audigier's design efforts. "The unrestrained, bedazzled, heavy-metal-goes-Bollywood aesthetic rivals the gaudy heyday of Gianni Versace. Instead of knocking it, the style arbiters of the world should be grateful. Monsieur Audigier has done a real mitzvah to the insecure fashion cognoscenti: He has given them something about which to feel superior. If Ed Hardy did not exist, they would have to invent it in order to get their snooty fix." Also, "popped his sabots" is the best euphemism for dying, ever. [NYObs]
• Cynthia Rowley is starting a kids' line. [Stylelist]
• Comme des Garçons' Osaka store is inaugurating a floor that will serve as an art gallery with a show by Yayoi Kusama. [WWD]
• Kate Moss's fourth women's fragrance, Vintage, launches this September, and the ads are coming out now. [NowSmellThis]
• Apparently, when a woman cuts her hair after a breakup, that's called a "breakover." Who knew? [Glamour]
• All those who remember fondly the extraordinary 26-page Daphne Guinness spread from Vogue Italia's September, 2008, issue, rejoice: the couture-loving heiress and photographer Steven Klein have teamed up again, and have another 20+ page editorial coming in Vogue Italia's September issue. Guinness says this one will be "moodier" and is inspired by a cult French film from the 60s, though she won't name which one. [Style.com]
• "Everybody thought they had to spend money. They thought it was a new way of life. Now they're rubbing the dust out of their eyes. ‘I don't need that handbag. What was I doing?' " said a brave, but anonymous, Condé Nast editor to Cathy Horyn. [NYTimes]
• Christina Binkley of the Wall Street Journal reports on a well-known industry secret: that the same firms who supply raw materials, and in some cases manufacture, for high-end brands also sell the same items to more down-market brands. Binkley compares a $1,750 cardigan sweater made in Italy by the Quarano, Piedmont, wool company Loro Piano, and a $145 J. Crew cardigan "spun from supersoft, luxurious Italian cashmere from a world-famous mill in the foothills of Piedmont." Lesson: some less-expensive brands still take immense care in their sourcing. [WSJ]
• Which may just be why CFDA executive director Steven Kolb became a J. Crew fan on Facebook. [FWD]
• A gaggle of minor celebrities — some dude who was in a Britney Spears video, the guy from North Dakota who plays Emmett Cullen in Twilight, etc — availed themselves of a pre-season event at French Connection in Los Angeles. Instead of merely being given bags of free clothes to wear when waiting for the paparazzi, the store embarrassed them by making them all play French Connection-themed Twister, whatever that is. [WWD]
• Dania Ramirez, a.k.a. Maya on Heroes, is a newly minted Covergirl. [People]
• Footwear brand Penny Loves Kenny has filed for bankruptcy protection. The company founder, Kenny Robinson, explained the filing as a tactical move in a 6-year legal battle with two China-based agents, and said he expects the brand to emerge intact in 3-6 months. [WWD]
• Philip Lim stepped into his SoHo boutique last weekend and helped some customers find the right sizes and pick out flattering items — all without telling them who he was. Then some fashion-savvy shoppers blew his cover. If more designers did thoughtful things like that, they'd certainly sell more clothes. [Fashionista]
• Burberry's second store in Canada, and its first in Toronto, opens this Friday. [WWD]
• Benetton's profits fell 63% in the first half of this year. [WWD]
• Barneys New York is putting a brave face on its 13 months — and counting — without a C.E.O., its double-digit sales declines, and its recent credit rating downgrade, to Caa3, for "very high investment risk." The company recently received $25 million from parent company Istithmar World Capital to shore up liquidity, and this week it hired an asset management company to help it restructure its $500 million debt. [WWD]

In April, a French Vogue shoot featured a "pregnant" model smoking and tossing a baby doll over her shoulder.

As Tatiana pointed out, if American Vogue were to portray the concept of motherhood, you'd get models holding babies and looking serene — "the mother of all clichés." She added: "French Vogue found the tenderness in mothering, but also the humor, the wackiness, the suggestion that it isn't perhaps natural to all women, and the surprise."

Additionally, in the July issue of Bazaar, MIlla Jovovich played a distracted working mom.





Obviously these shots differ in that there is a man present, but they certainly don't evoke the beaming, wholesome, Norman Rockwell concept of motherhood.

The new Italian Vogue shots include alcohol and cigarettes:






…As well as just plain-old avoidance:

There are a few ways to look at these images. Blogger Gwen from Sociological Images notes,

…Most countries don't share the American middle-class demonization of smoking or our concerns about the effects of second-hand smoke on children, or the idea that drinking cocktails around the kids is problematic (and remember, we used to give kids alcoholic drinks and Marlboros were marketed to moms). And many people don't believe that children need to be tended to every time they cry or look unhappy–that's a culturally and historically specific parenting ideal.

But a reader named Claire points out:

The message that motherhood might produce boredom, irritation, irreverence, and drive one to consume massive quantities of alcohol is one that I find refreshing, rather than appalling. Although this spread glamorizes the condition of being trapped within the confines of domesticity, can we not also interpret it as depicting the failure of domesticity and motherhood as a norm? And isn't the critique of a norm a productive act?

Good point. And here some more questions: Do these magazine editors want to start a dialogue about deconstructing the visual clichés of motherhood? Or do they just want edgy photoshoots? Does it matter? And even if they're not neglecting the kids — why all the bored, distracted moms?

Rich Moms Are Bad Moms: Vogue Italia's "Vagaries of Fashion" [Sociological Images]

Earlier: French Vogue And Ambivalent Modern Motherhood
Mr. Big Plays Housewife? How Bazaar

Model Suvi Koponen, photographer Richard Burbridge, and stylist Joanne Blades serve up scads of all of the above in the May issue of Italian Vogue, for a story called A Summer Blend. It's the kind of seasonal round-up that could have been a grab-bag of trends tied together incoherently by lesser hands — but here the craziness works. We don't care to know what Suvi is "doing" in these shots, or wonder as to her motivation, or whatnot — it's enough that she's there, moving, jumping (but not in that U.S.Vogue way), twisting and dominating every picture. It's the kind of spread that's an end in itself.

Yes, Suvi can balance on the wooden-ridged lid of a steamer trunk in six-inch heels. That's the kind of stuff they teach you when you're Finland's Next Top Model.

And yes, she can do the same trick upside down. Remember the all the pretzel contortions and weird angles of last season's Calvin Klein campaign? This is a woman who knows how to throw the kind of poses that make you look twice.

This is kind of a don't-call-it-a-comeback moment for Koponen. While she still appeared in major campaigns as recently as last fall, she's been absent from the international runways for two seasons now, preferring to travel. If only we all could announce our returns from abroad with 13-page editorials in Italian Vogue.

While I love narrative fashion spreads as much as the next person, they can sometimes suffer from a certain cloying quality, a kind of intrusive nudge-nudge of the viewer. Even as you're flicking through the pages, you recognize that now you're supposed to think this, and now you're supposed to realize this is true, but wait, here's a reversal! Et cetera. Also sometimes models aren't good at acting, or the stories are trite — how many times have we seen the "woman takes a lover" arc? Editorials like Burbridge's here are bombast, color and light signifying little, perhaps, beyond themselves — but they're so damn for-the-heck-of-it impressive it's hard to look away.

The abstracted, angled black shadows on the white background, the strong, slanting light that hit the model just so, the black-and-white photography, and the simple lines of the featured clothes, all made one clear announcement: the cashmere brand pointed to the latest Calvin Klein campaign with Suvi Koponen, and told its creative team to copy like their lives depended on it. But then I got to thinking, haven’t I seen the architectural black and white theme elsewhere in fashion photography this season? In a business as crowd-sourced and trend-based as fashion, how can you tell the difference between recycling an aesthetic and taking inspiration from an old idea, anyway?

Suvi Koponen — Finland’s next top model, would you believe — has been favored for Calvin Klein Collection campaigns for the past few seasons. This fall, she was shot by Fabien Baron for a series of images that took dramatic delight in the lines of Francisco Costa’s garments, which this season were a little like 90s minimalism gone very good. Dodai is on record calling this campaign one of fall's worst ads, but I gasped when I first saw it. Working with so little — no props to create an atmosphere, no other models to generate charisma — could easily result in a tedious set of images. Sure, Suvi looks a little like a robot (an awe-inspiring fashion robot). And I don’t love the Stepford coiffure, which seems to unhelpfully contrast in era with the clothes. But I think these pictures are unmistakably beautiful. And I prefer their flirtation with high-concept self-serious absurdity to a million here’s-a-pretty-girl-now-buy-our-product luxury campaigns any day.

So clearly any images that distinctive were going to get knocked off. TSE photographed both its men’s and women’s lines in a style that looks like a dumbed-down retread of Baron and Koponen's Calvin Klein campaign.

The buttons on this coat don’t lie flat down the front, and the shadows cast by the lapels make the man’s chest look hollow. The coat hangs like it’s too big and nobody cared to pin it. Whereas in Baron's images, the bare-bones minimalism worked, here the same aesthetic looks under-thought and under-inspired. The result is boring.

Another fashion personage supping from the black-and-white cup this season? Patrick Demarchelier. The iconic photographer had an editorial in November’s Italian Vogue with models Mariacarla Boscono and Anja Rubik where the nearly all-black styling, plain white studio set with angled walls, and dramatic spot lighting all point to the same originating idea as the Calvin Klein campaign. But Demarchelier is enough of a creative mind to push the edges of the concept just enough to spread it over some different ground.

Gone is any attempt to make the models look 'natural': their poses are exaggerated, their torsos and legs twist and weave to bizarre effect. The shadows they throw are occasionally grotesque, and the weird black shapes on the walls play with the same ideas of scale as the built-up shoulders, jutting collars, and rigid teacup peplums of the clothes.

Hair is a frizzed bowl cut in bleach blonde (Rubik) or jet black (Boscono); makeup an ungodly pallor etched with mannequinish black lines at the jaw and lips. It all feels a little stagey, but that is the point: Demarchelier is reminding us that everything we see in the pages of a fashion magazine is artifice. Any magazine is an experience engineered by the conscious aesthetic choices of hundreds of individuals, and the same hours of of styling, hair, makeup, and post-production go into a 'natural' Steven Meisel editorial as into one where the models look like aliens experienced in posing. There is nothing natural about it. I think Demarchelier’s adjusted reflection of Fabien Baron’s campaign is a welcome contribution to the fashion discourse.

To me, this is a perfect example of fashion's hot-house idea-sharing — how an idea as old as the sun (black and white) is made to seem new again in an ad with weird styling and solid photography, inspires an old hand to take up the idea and add something new to it outside the realm of advertising, all while other brands move to piggyback and do so with less skill than the original. That's the fashion cycle, right there.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Vogue is stale. The covers are static and lack energy; the photo shoots are repetitive. Even though the December issue, with Jennifer Aniston, has attracted a lot of attention for the "What Angelina Did Was Very Uncool" cover line, doesn't that kind of thing seem beneath Vogue? It is so very Star. Photo-spread wise, the December issue tries to branch out with a "Romeo & Juliet" shoot — costarring, uh, John Lithgow. But the following spread is six pages of a blonde model posing and jumping on a grayish-beige background. Which was done in the November issue. And the July issue. And the September 2007 issue.

French Vogue shakes things up with edgy concepts, like devil worship, breathtaking colors and crossdressers; when there is a photo shoot set in a studio, it still manages to be interesting, with black and white photography, animated models or baby animals.

As for Italian Vogue, the magazine's experimental photo shoots are often bizarre, but never boring. And the July edition, dubbed the "All Black" issue, was such a success that it sold out in many cities.

There's no doubt that Condé Nast would never allow American Vogue to be as edgy or fashion-forward as its international editions; it's a mainstream fashion and lifestyle magazine. But other American magazines manage to make fashion seem fun and fresh: Marie Claire had a goofy gameshow shoot, in addition to visiting Vietnam and finding romance in Rome.

Of all of the women's magazines out there, Vogue disappoints more than any other. Possibly because it has the most legendary reputation to live up to. But. Month after month, it ignores models of color, celebrates the untouchable lifestyle of the rich and manufactures ridiculous insecurities (like when Vera Wang called armpits "nasty". I guess we should just amputate our limbs?). Vogue needs to ditch the overly Photoshopped covers, discover diversity, quit featuring the same old people (Kate Bosworth may be thin and blonde, but she is not interesting) and take some risks. And I don't mean putting LeBron James on the cover. And maybe in order to get a fresh new look, you've got to clean out the closet. And if that means trying someone new, so be it. No one doubts that Anna Wintour is an icon, an editor who would leave behind a legacy. But she's been edior-in-chief since 1988, and we've seen what she can do. Let someone else give it a shot. Maybe when we get a new President, we should get a new Vogue as well?

Restelss Anna [Page Six]
Earlier: Royals, The Rich & Marc Jacobs: No Wonder Vogue's Numbers Are Down

Givhan writes that Sozzani:

…wanted to focus on people, projects and ideas. She did not want to make an aesthetic statement about Africa. So she didn't fill the magazine with images of Western models in overpriced vaguely ethnic frocks. And unlike a recent issue of India's Vogue magazine, which sparked outrage among activists and humanitarians, this one won't show peasants posing with $5,000 handbags.

Says Sozzani: "I think it's ridiculous to see a 16-year-old wearing clothes he'll never afford at his age." The issue will feature men — and some women — in their own clothes, showing off their own style: Forest Whitaker, Quincy Jones, John Legend, Matt Damon and Michelle Obama. All will be expressing their personal connections to Africa.

As Givhan points out, L'Uomo Vogue is an insiders' magazine that designers, photographers and creative directors read. "It speaks to the folks who define beauty and who then tell us whether we meet those standards." So even though Sozzani's not making a statement that a mainstream audience would consume, tastemakers for those people will see the magazine. But is Sozzani's "Africa" issue a gimmick to generate buzz? Or an honest effort to address issues besides the "it shoe"? And if half the money is going to charity, does it matter?

Deeper Meaning Below A Glossy Surface [Washington Post]

Earlier: Italian Vogue Shocks, Awes, Makes Civil War Sexy
LOLVogue: Sheez Over Ayteen, I Sware
Italian Vogue's "All Black" Issue: A Guided Tour

• Naomi Campbell's started her latest round of amends, this time a stint in a soup kitchen for assaulting a cop. Apparently she was ten minutes late. [The Mirror]
• No one will either confirm or deny that Ellen is a new Cover Girl. [AdAge]
• Nastia Liukin thrown in with the sharks. "Ms. Liukin was excited—giddy, almost—but perhaps also a tad intimidated. Dressed in a marbled, off-white bubble dress, Ms. Liukin had attended her first Fashion Week show, Peter Som’s spring 2009 collection, just that morning." [Observer]

• The "Ocampo" is the hot item in Sudanese fashion right now, There's been such a run on the tob, a traditional sari-like garment, that it's become impossible to find. "The real lure is the brand name—after Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the International Criminal Court prosecutor who has charged Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir with war crimes." [Deep Glamour]
• Alice Dellal is in the midst of a coke scandal. But more to the point, she's rocking punk chic! [Elle]
• As previously noted, Ed Norton's gonna be the face — wrist? — of Breil for the next two years. Here are the ads! [Oh No They Didn't]
• The charmed life: Carlos de Souza's It boy career. [Observer]
• Leah Buechley breaks the glass ceilng of the high-tech materials world. "In the several years since she first sewed a circuit board to a T-shirt, the 31-year-old University of Colorado computer-science researcher has done a lot to bring gender equality to the world of do-it-yourself." [Forbes]
• Wondering what the hell inspired the trippy Rodarte show? "Skeletons, Donnie Darko, and Space Opera." [Elle]
• This woman knows how to make an exit: Romeo Gigli's designer quits just in time for the Milan shows. [Reuters]
• The much-anticipated Louis Vuitton-Comme des Garcons bag, sported by sullen Japanese teens. [The Life Files]
• Victoria Beckham: close, but no cigar? "Beckham's dresses appear both curiously wearable and really rather fetching. Primly foxy, kitted out with all manner of tailoring trompe-l'oeil, they will be available in sizes 6-14. Victoria apparently had in mind Nigella Lawson and Dame Helen Mirren by way of muses. The adjectives being bandied between air kisses were "beautiful", "classy" and "desirable". Be that as it may, the consensus regarding Brand Beckham remains a hearty "Thanks, but no thanks"." [Telegraph]
• Looks like chasing Harry Winston's worthwhile; the company's way, way up. [WSJ]
• Faux-fur Converse chucks. 'Nuff said. [The Life Files]
• Obviously a terrible idea: "With no catwalk in sight, nine sharply dressed models climbed up a ladder and plunged into a large tank of water in Australia's first public underwater fashion shoot, delighting tourists and passers-by in Sydney's picturesque Circular Quay." [Reuters]
• Dita Von Teese for Wonderbra: "I took all the best bits of the most beautiful vintage lingerie I have collected over the years to make this...But I made sure it was all really comfortable too, which vintage lingerie can't really claim to be." [Telegraph]

I don't read Italian, but some of the headlines and captions have English words. One of the first stories on the "People" page is about Michelle Obama. The next piece is about Spike Lee's film, Miracle At St. Anna, which focuses on four black soldiers trapped behind enemy lines in WWII. There's also a picture of Naomi Campbell and Nelson Mandela with information about the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, and in the caption, the words "benefit girl." A few pages after that: A short piece about Essence magazine, followed by one about Ebony. It's kind of funny how between the pages of editorial content with black faces, the ads continue to have white faces. In any case, I had to scan the page about Ebony because Lena Horne on the March 1946 cover looks amazing.

Skipping ahead, you'll find a six-page ad for PINKO, starring Naomi Campbell. No matter how you feel about her, you cannot deny that the woman is astounding. She is 38 years old and still built like a thoroughbred.

There are eight pages of up and coming black models called "You Have A Go-See." Maybe it's for the people who claim there are no black models. All of the young women are gorgeous; I scanned three for you guys to check out.

The first big black model shoot is the beauty spread; it's shot by Dusan Reljin. Edgy. Not technically "pretty." The underlying subtext seems to be about the meaning of blackness, the meaning of black as a hue, as a skin tone. Not my cup of tea, but here are a few shots:

Question: Is blackface on a black face still blackface?

Oh! An ad for a company called Quodlibet uses a black model! It's so '80s your hair will crimp.

And so we come to the feature well. The first photo spread is the "Modern Luxe" story by Steven Meisel. Alek Wek, Alva Chinn, Sessilee Lopez, Ubah, Kiara Kabakubu, Noemie Lenoir, Vernoica Webb, Arlenis Sosa, Liya Kebede, Karen Alexander, Iman, Yasmin Warsame, Jourdan Dunn, Gail O'Neill and Chanel Iman appear. Many images have already been on the web, so I'm only scanning a few:

It's awesome to see Karen and Gail since they were in the issues of the fashion magazines I read as a pre-teen magazine junkie and I haven't seen them since.

Next is the shoot appropriately titled "There's Only One Naomi." The photographs (again by Steven Meisel) are like scenes from ordinary days in Miss Thing's life: Luxe, aloof, a little crazy.

After Naomi? Tyra.

Then 8 images of ensembles worn with crazy hats, called "Elegance As A Form."

The "How To Dazzle" shoot is 25+ pages of black and white photography; here are just a few images. In case you're curious about how to dazzle, the mag seems to suggest smoking, large jewelry, turbans and animal print.

Did you know that ANTM alum Toccara Jones was in this issue? She is smoking hot. Aside from the whole woman-is-an-object-like-a-car thing. And she is topless! Absolutely stunning. Gotta love that they included a "womanly" body.

There's one last "Black on Black" shoot, but it pales (heh) in comparison to the rest, so I didn't even bother scanning it. But after counting black models on runways and in magazines and finding them ignored by the fashion industry, this much-anticipated issue really delivered.

Is it a gimmick? Yes. But the fact remains that flipping through the issue and seeing page after page of gorgeous black women can act as a reminder to editors, stylists, modeling agencies and consumers — that beauty comes in many forms. It can be edgy, irreverent, weird, pretty, strong and avant-garde — while being black. While perhaps some may be upset that it took a "stunt" like this to throw a spotlight on the issue of the lack of diversity in magazines and runways, it's actually a beautiful souvenir, a keepsake to remember these troubled times. A protest song in photograph form. Never has the racism issue looked quite so stunning.

Related: Memo Pad [WWD]

On The Runways Of Milan, Color Just Wasn't Considered Chic
Earlier:

Earlier: LOLVogue: Hungry Moddles & Rorschach Tests
Bon Joor, C'est Paris LOLVogue Encore!
LOLVogue: Carbs, Botox & Pink-Eye
LOLVogue: Good Help Is Hard To Find