When Vogue has a black model on the cover, please buy two copies
23 08 2007
Guardian columnist and feature writer, Hannah Pool (right), reflects on Naomi Campbell’s recent comments about racism in the fashion industry.
“Black models are being sidelined by major modelling agencies. It’s a pity that people don’t appreciate black beauty,” said Naomi Campell to Kenyan local press earlier this week, while on holiday in the resort of Malindi. “Even myself, I get a raw deal from my own country in England. For example, I hardly come on the front pages of the London Vogue magazine. Only white models, some of whom are not as prominent as I am, are put on splash pages. I don’t want to quit modelling until I find that black models get equal prominence and recognition by the world media,” she went on. Campbell, who first graced the covers of British Vogue in 1987, went on to say that she is thinking of opening her own modelling agency in Kenya, in an attempt to redress the balance.
Campbell is, of course, not saying anything new - “Racism in fashion industry” is about as surprising a headline as “Pete Doherty arrested”. But, while she certainly hasn’t done herself any favours on the likeability front, if there is one thing Campbell is to be congratulated for, it is the fact that throughout her career she has never shied away from talking about racism within the fashion industry.
Given how small the fashion world is, and how much it trades on favouritism, this is pretty ballsy of her. Every time she opens her mouth, it seems, Campbell is more or less calling her employer a racist.
“There is prejudice. It is a problem and I can’t go along any more with brushing it under the carpet. This business is about selling, and blonde and blue-eyed girls are what sells,” said Streatham’s most famous export as far back as 1997. Saying this sort of stuff takes guts, no matter who you are; she’s not so much biting the hand that feeds, as ripping it off at the arm.
So, how does Campbell’s Vogue-cover tally compare with that of her peers? Well, she has appeared on a total of eight Vogue covers, which is approximately eight more than you or I, but notably less than Kate Moss (who has clocked a whopping 24).
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