If
Carine Roitfeld chose to use a white model in black paint for her
controversial shoot because she couldn't find a beautiful African model, she wasn't looking very hard.
Australian designer
Brooke Roberts, who we've
written about before, found the striking
Sycha Mubiaya at Double Club, the Euro/Congolese club hosted by Prada in London. She approached the 24 year old who was there for a drumming performance, and quickly had herself a hot model for her northern hemisphere spring/summer 2010 lookbook - pictured here.
Of the Paris Vogue shoot, Roberts said, "I've tweeted like mad about it. I was so shocked. It's so ill-judged. What reaction could C.R. have possibly expected except outrage? So it's either a cheap shot for mega-publicity at any cost, or out-and-out ignorance and disregard for others."
"It pisses me off that she'd bring fashion into disrepute so tackily and heavy-handedly. It might sound a bit naff, but it's not just her livelihood and reputation. There's a whole industry to think of and she has a responsibility to reflect culture, style and 'the moment', via her vision and perspective. Instead, her spread was vile," she added.
Brooke Roberts spring summer 2010 collection is being sought after by some high-end London stockists, details to come when we hear back from Browns. The range includes wildly colourful custom jacquard knits, brain scan patterns, soft blue leather, delicate silk chiffon perfect for the Australian summer and heavy little stainless steel weights derived from surgical insertions. Yes, Roberts works in surgery during the day.
Sycha, 24 has lived in London for several years, but is originally from The Congo. She has deferred her Physiotherapy Degree to model full-time and is represented by
d1 models.
