Magazine puts diversity in vogue with all-black issue

July 24, 2008, 11:38PM
Magazine puts diversity in vogue with all-black issue

By LESLIE CASIMIR
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

For more than three weeks, local fashion stalwart Tracey Ferguson of Jones magazine has been scouring the city for the taboo-breaking issue of Vogue Italia, which dazzled the international fashion world this month with its issue featuring only black models.

This is unheard of: An unprecedented 100-plus glossy of the fashion and entertainment world's top darker-hued faces, wrapped up in a stunning four-page foldout cover of supermodels Naomi Campbell, Jourdan Dunn, Liya Kebede and Sessilee Lopez.

Ferguson, the editor-in-chief of the fashion and lifestyle quarterly, recently got so desperate for a peek at the international fashion bible that she convinced a friend in New York to scan and e-mail the pages of the magazine to her. She hasn't stopped gushing about the photo spreads.

"They're beautiful — I didn't realize it would be this hard to get a copy," said Ferguson. "I've been to Borders, I've been to Barnes & Noble, to Issues — all sold out. I'm like, 'What?' "

Ferguson should have known better. The issue was the brainchild of Italian Vogue editor Franca Sozzani, who was inspired by Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and the lack of diversity on the fashion runways.

She decided to do something about it, teaming up with top fashion photographer Steven Meisel, who shot the models. The fashion and the media worlds haven't stopped talking about the July issue ever since.

Houston is no exception. It is a hot commodity, albeit hard to find, driving some fashionistas to eye the fast and fierce bidding world on eBay, where the $17 copy sold late Tuesday for $38.

Some were offering a package of the four different covers for $400.

"I did a lot of research, a lot of calling to find this magazine," said Crystal Smiley, 24, a retail sales associate at the clothing store White House, Black Market in the Galleria. "I called Conde Nast in New York, I contacted Vogue via e-mail, but they didn't have anything to do with the international Vogue."

The Spring resident last week finally landed her copy at Issues, a Montrose magazine store that specializes in foreign language periodicals.

'I dare not touch it ... '

Owner Bang Tran said his shop has been bombarded with callers desperate to get ahold of the magazine. Smiley was placed on a waiting list of some 60 people, and close to two dozen more are still waiting.

Smiley also snatched two more copies at a Borders in The Woodlands for her friends, saying she wanted to get as many copies of it as she could.

"I unwrapped the plastic seal and looked at the pictures just once and put it back in the sleeve," she explained. "I dare not touch it ever again."

Ferguson and Smiley said that they were disappointed that it took a European magazine, not an American one, to deal with the hesitancy the fashion industry has long held to hire black models, claiming that they "don't sell."

Hopefully, that myth has been debunked.

"These things have taken years to (overcome)," said Page Parkes, owner of the Houston and Dallas-based modeling and acting agency. "Italian Vogue is the study guide for all of us in the industry in the U.S., and I think that the American magazines have always copied them, so I'm sure this will help."

Tran said he thinks it will. He has never seen so many black fashionistas walking into his Montrose shop before, plunking down a good chunk of change for the magazine. His distributor, Speed Impex, has imported thousands more of the issue for the U.S. market.

Additional reprinting

Greg Allen, Impex's Midwest regional manager who covers Texas, said he has gotten requests from newsstands and stores that normally don't carry Italian Vogue, including black-themed bookstores. Allen said the American demand has been so great for the Italian issue that Conde Nast in Europe has done an additional reprinting of the magazine due to arrive in the States today.

"We typically don't do reorders on magazines — you just kind of move on to the next month," Allen said. "But this has been unusual. Italian Vogue has consumed my life for the last week and a half."