I can't WAIT to buy this!!! My heart warmed just reading this article!

It's about time; they all look great.

Random observation, they all have similar features with the cheekbones and small nose shape, and small eyes. Interesting.

Hope they have a sister in there with some natural hair, too.

I had no idea Toccara was going to be included. She took some really gorgeous photos on ANTM, but it was obvious there was no couture career awaiting her.

I am so glad to see Pat Cleveland's name up there. Models like Pat, Alva Chinn and Iman have waited a long time to see something like this and it's nice to see them being included.

@aries304 - the piece did mention that the gorgeous alek wek will be featured, as well.

@aries304 - Liya Kebede is Ethiopian so I believe that is her natural hair. And Alek Wek wears her hair in a short natural.

Are we really going to start parsing up the models in the issue into who is "Black" enough to be included? I just see photos of beautiful Black women that look more like me than any other collection I've seen in Vogue.

Should we just be happy for this issue? It's a lot of progress…I'm all for diversity in the models showcased, but at the moment I'm happy that this issue is out, perhaps provoking thought and conversation.

"Natural hair" is always kinky, extremely tighty coiled, course hair. That is the only definition of natural allowed. It doesn't mean "no chemicals." You didn't get the memo? I'll forward you my copy.

Looking forward to buying this…

Oh, I wasn't trying to start some s***, I just appreciate seeing kinky Afros among long, flowing hair (especially since the latter tends to be 'the standard').

Fur, tobacco and likely conflict diamonds? Ugh.

They look nice. I was expecting a bit more fierceness. Without the animal print and fur and turbans.

So all I'm saying, miss sweetdiva/JJ, is that I am looking forward to reading the magazine and seeing a myriad of black faces, since not all Black women are cut-and-paste the same. Maybe the hope that the pictures will represent our diversity of black beauty is too much to ask for.

…because those things are kinda played out. I can find a picture of every black model in these but you couldn't say the same for white models.

I'm oh so glad they included Toccara. Gerren Taylor would have been a good addition too. She used to be their favorite until she hit puberty after which she was labeled "obese" because she ballooned to a size 8 or something. It's nice to have someone who doesn't fit the traditional mold of "high fashion model" or "plus sized model."

straight, kinky, skinny, not-so-skinny, old, young, famous, new kid on the block, who cares?!! they're all beautiful, black women and this makes me incredibly happy!!! sure, the mainstream fashion industry has a long way to go when it comes to promoting black images of beauty, but this is a FANTASTIC start!

Are we gonna be able to buy a copy of this in the United States? Me want a copy.

This is so very exciting. I want to take some of the pictures and enlarge them, frame them and hang it up on my walls. Black is beautiful.

DFP, most magazine stores and larger bookstores will have it.

I've been scoping out my local barnes & noble waiting for the issue. Glad I didn't miss it

I'm sorry but ya'll can be grateful for this if you want to but perhaps Vogue needs a black editor to help them get it right. Those women are not a celebration of black women only of a very narrow view of what type of black woman is acceptable. They look like carbon copies with Jackson noses.

Yeah, Deaf Fem, according to today's NYTimes, this issue hits Europe next Thursday and the US 'soon thereafter.' I don't know where you are, but in NYC, you can buy Italian Vogue at newsstands…. or here in Connecticut, they're sold in magazine shops. (Check out your college communities. Foreign newspapers and magazines are usually sold in bookshops there, too.)

The NYT article talked about Black beauty and what a photographic genius Stephen Meisel is. Good stuff.

Oh duh… now I see you can see the article, too. *headpalm*

Um, what? A Jackson nose is basically a plastic surgery error. No human is naturally born with a nose like that.

Are you looking at the odd pictures above that aren't really good? Or did you look at the names. I assure you that Iman, Naomi, Tyra, Jourdan, Liya, Alek, Pat and Karen all have different looks. Yes, biracial women appear to be overrepresented, but to say that they look the same is an insult to them.

Even just 15 years ago, Jourdan and Sessilee would be told to have nose jobs. If they were starting today, I don't think Naomi and Tyra would have had nose jobs because a Western nose wouldn't be a prerequisite to success.
Alek and Sessilee would be forced to grow their hair and/or wear weaves and wigs to be considered beautiful.
Alek would probably be used for shock value a la Grace Jones and today, I think many people are getting rid of that dark skin = ugly B.S. that has haunted us for ages.
There are women in their 40s and 50s (and I think Pat is pushing 60) who are modeling in Vogue. And it's not an In Memoriam.
In there, you've got two moguls (Iman and Tyra), several dedicated philanthropists (Iman, Naomi, Tyra, Alek and Liya) and working mothers (Iman, Liya, Pat and I believe Karen).

The second most influential person at Vogue is a black man - Andre Leon Talley.

And when you look at Vogue, all the models do have a similar look - tall, very slender, high cheekbones, and mostly Eastern European looking. It stands to reason that even among Black models in shades of vanilla to dark chocolate, there is something singular about their physical feature that make them models.

No one said that every single type of person would be represented. However, it does seem like a step in the right direction for the simple fact that Black models' existence is being acknowledged.

that was @shani btw.

Also, considering that American Vogue has a black editor-at-large yet does such a horrible job with any sort of diversity (gotta love those Annie Leibovitz pictures with all the colored people on the inner folds!), I don't know that it would solve anything. If my job were to cast models for Vogue or any mainstream fashion magazine, I would include SE and E Asian models as well as white models in addition to black models. Why? Because I see a lot of very beautiful models and many of the models of color appear to be chronically under-employed. There are people who don't want to rock the boat. Some of you might disagree with this assessment, but in my view, Andre of Vogue's Anna&Andre only rocks the boat when it comes to his red carpet clothing choices. He certainly helped launch some modeling careers back in the day but I have not seen any recent examples of that other than paying lip service.

by the way, if I were going to select the models for this, it would be Roshumba Williams, Ubah Hassan, Atong Arjok, Antoinette Ataro, Tiguida and Sunna Gottshalk.
This wasn't Roshumba's genre but I adore her.
Then in pairs:
-Jourdan-Chanel
-Tyra-Naomi (…or Tyra and Kimora since they're BFFs but Naomi would still have to be in there)
-Iman-Beverly
sprinkle with creativity fairy dust and voila!

@aries: I think that's editing but ALL high fashion models have high cheekbones

So excited… I hope Ajuma's in it!

Several years ago when I subscribed to Vogue and read it with my roomie, Saks has a looong advertising thing about 16 or so pages long with all black models. Not the same ones. There were probably 6 or so of them. On the first page, I went "look: a negro!" because there are seldom any even in the ads. We kept flipping and there were just more and more. We were so concerned and kept going over to see if w. She predicted that they were trying to stand out or be progressive. I predicted that their promo person is black and would soon be collecting unemployment checks.

This being said, I do like Saks more.

You're welcome! Just wanted to spread the beautiful pics!

@ Sweet and Daria: I appreciate your thoughtful comments. I am only responding to the photos that are posted here. If these are promo shots, it sends a bad message because they do look like carbon copies with very narrow noses. Why bother displaying 5 models that look exactly alike to promote an all Black issue? The point would be to show us an array of looks, no?

I kinda see it from the photos but I'm just saying that those models don't look alike.

Most models do have narrower noses regardless of ethnicity just like most of them have impossibly high cheek bones. With the exception of Iman, none of them have "narrow" noses really and even Iman's isn't even that narrow. Their poses add to that effect.

Fierce looking women!

This mag is usually 16 bucks in the US so don't have sticker shock and this is but a small sampling of the pics. I think this issue is going to sell out fast because it is a collectors issue. You should see if B&N can hold a copy for you if you really want it.

Is that going to be the official cover or are there multiple covers?

aries304, most of today's black models wear there natural hair. In Naomi's, day almost all black models wore weaves and you see what Nene's hairline looks like.

shani and aries304- I guess the fact that the four featured are all brown skin(not light or dark) gets to you too. Three have very full/big lips, notice you did not mention that. Naomi's and Sessilee's noses are kind of flat. If you painted any of them white they would look a bit strange in my opinion.

I think the problem is people want to see models who like exactly like them. That is not going to happen

With the exception of Iman, none of them have “narrow” noses really and even Iman’s isn’t even that narrow. Their poses add to that effect.

@ Daria- Presto

I think the problem is people want to see models who like exactly like them. That is not going to happen
Yeah really. Do the white models that are normally in there look remotely like many of the white women you see around?

Exactly Daria, and who would want to look like Gemma Ward anyway.

Aliens? I kid, I kid. The alien thing works for Uma Thurman. She's gorgeous. Gemma is "ethereal"

Beauty comes in all colors, shapes and sizes! Why do we keep forgetting this? A magazine has to come out and remind us? Geez, people!!!! We have to do better!

I could make some of the same criticisms of the biggest black magazines, both for men and for women.

Vogue is a fashion magazine. I certainly didn't expect them to include anyone above a size 4. They have several.

For me, beauty and health kinda go together which might be why I'm not that thrilled with the new "it" girls. Jourdan does not seem healthy to me at all. Not saying she has an eating disorder. It could be a thyroid problem. Her face is pretty but something seems wrong. Chanel Iman is probably the same size as Jourdan, but Chanel seems healthy. She has energy. Her eyes are bright. Maybe it's simply that Chanel likes modeling or is just in a better place in life but if I had to pick from a large roster of models, Jourdan wouldn't be in that group for the reasons I mentioned.

i never knew there was such a serious lack of black models on the runway because i dont keep up with high fashion but wow. amazing story and im def feeling the idea of vogue taking the upper hand and bringing this issue into light.

good post!!

1

I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY THAT I AM VERY HAPPY TO SEE THAT VOGUE MAGAZINE IS TAKING A STAND. I MUST SAY THAT I AM VERY MAD THAT PEOPLE CANT JUST BE HAPPY. YOU ARE THE SAME PEOPLE SAYING BARAK ISNT BLACK ENOUGH HUH?????? jUST SHUT UP. BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL IN ANY SHAPE OR SHADE. I AM A VERY DARK SKINNED AFRICAN AMERICAN WITH VERY EUROPEAN FEATURES…. I HAVE A SMALL NOSE, LIPS AND EYES…STOP HATING!!!!! CONGRATS TO VOGUE… AND THE LOVELY WOMEN WHO WILL BE FEATURED.

Cosign Ayesha!

I would just like to say, according to the facts and figures of how much money is spent in the fashion industry by black women alone is around 20 billion a year. We have billionaires such as Oprah to name a few. We can complain from now to eternity about us as black people being under represented in all levels of the entertainment industry. From Fashion, to Television. I live in the UK and as a young black man I have had to constantly keep inspiring myself, in order to stay focused on my goals of achieving what I want, because everything around us in the UK. Is a constant stereotype of how we as black people behave and are viewed by the rest of the world. My overall point is that we can not bring about change to the mass media world, unless we invest in ourselves and our people, by creating our own magazines, with all black models of different skin, shades features and sizes. I for one hope that one day I can invest billions into black inspired business within the media from fashion to television, giving the world a fair representation of Black people.

In relation to my last comment. I seriously wonder if we as black people would even want to support a high class magazine the same standard as a vogue, but with all black content by black people for black people. modelled by black women of all shapes and sizes.
Or are we victims, to our own prejudices of what we in ourselves see as beautiful.

They are talking about this on YouTube @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgsZw9emtNo

I am trying to find a copy of this magazine. Can anyone tell me where it is being sold?