Not So Vogue

Italian Vogue's July 2008 issue will feature only black models since they are so underrepresented in the fashion industry (read about in The New York Times here). I was kind of intrigued and impressed by this idea, but also rather disturbed because of course, the magazine is now turning this into, quite literally, a very black and white issue.

I guess Italian Vogue is making some sort of an effort here, albeit a very superficial one. What I don't understand is why there are still such extremes, and not just in terms of skin color but overall "look" - why is classic and patrician versus exotic and new? I get that this is probably what sells, and I also understand that black and white models can still encompass a wide variety of looks and body types, but it still seems that everyone else falls between the cracks.

The other day, a friend was telling me how people are always surprised to hear her ethnicity because she doesn't supposedly look "Indian," with the implication that looking remotely "ethnic" would somehow make her less attractive. I say we get an issue of Italian Vogue out there that is um, brown maybe, since most people fall somewhere between black and white, plain and exotic, and are definitely more "ethnic" looking than the fashion industry seems to prefer.

Now I want to start a magazine for these people. Oh, wait, that's totally been done before. I'll just superficially blog about such issues instead.