Black is beautiful.

Bravo to Vogue Italia for creating an issue– July 2008– that features black models exclusively (and let’s hope that the ripple effect is that it and other magazines abroad and in the US begin to use even more women of color models in each issue’s spread).  I am headed to the newstand today to see if I can get a copy of the issue.  In the meantime, here is some buzz.   

From Viva Vogue Italia by Helena Andrews at The Root.com: 

Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani told the UK’s Independent, “Nobody is using black girls. I see so many beautiful girls, and they were complaining that they are not used enough.”

When asked if she thought there might be some backlash in Italy, which has had an increasing “uncomfortable” relationship with its immigrants, Sozzani was blunt: “Maybe in our country it is not the best idea. But I don’t care. I think it is not my problem if they don’t like it—it’s their problem.”

And here is an interivew with renown modeling agent Bethann Hardison from Veronica Chambers (a fabulous writer of Panamanian descent– a passage from her book The Joy of Doing Things Badly is quoted at the beginning of Chapter 6 of Hijas Americanas) about the use of black models in the fashion industry.