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"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.
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.
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.