Vogue Italia July 2008: Black Issue - Naomi Campbell Cover

Vogue Italia July 2008: Black Issue

At long last. My own personal copy of Vogue Italia's ground-breaking "A Black Issue" finally arrived from New York. The original plan was for me to wait until I get an actually copy of this historical glossy before writing an in-depth review but come to think of it, what else has not been said and done online?

I had chills running down my spine as I leafed through the magazine. The editorials are great. The models are absolutely beautiful, absolutely gorgeous, absolutely STUNNING. Sessilee Lopez is fierce and ferosh -- actually, they all are!

The ads tell a completely different story though. Other than the odd ad campaign or two (ok maybe three... etc), most of the ads feature (well duh, nothing new there) what seems to be the current standard of beauty: tall, white, skinny and blonde. It felt creepy looking at all these ads go side by side with the all-black editorials. Is fashion REALLY that racist? Can't our tastemakers do something about it (ie. offer more diversity)? It's funny how the issue had a fold-out cover featuring 4 beautiful black models: Naomi, Jourdan, Sessilee and Liya but you flip it out and look at the back, you'll see a full spread of Valentino's latest ad campaign with an all-white cast.

I dunno. Enough rambling from me. I'm just glad Vogue Italia showed everyone that "it" (whatever it may be) could be done.