In an odd homage to Barack Obama, Italian Vogue featured all black models in its' July issue. In terms of circulation, slumped newstand sales are anticipated since this is generally regarded to be slowest month for print publications. "The Black Issue" is widely understood to be an effort to make amends with the black community after receiving a great deal of criticism for the April cover of the US edition. The spring issue featured NBA player LeBron James and Giselle Bundchen in a pose that looked suspiciously similar to a King Kong poster, visually comparing the athlete to a big, scary ape.
Two style legends, Steven Meisel and Naomi Campbell, were paired for the big photo editorial. The spread features Naomi looking stunning despite her age. Although, if the goal was to promote a positive image of black women, maybe something where Campbell wasn't quite so overly sexualized would have made a stronger statement. Of the images available of the shoot online, the majority of them feature the supermodel nearly naked, looking like a well-dressed whore. Splaying Naomi out on a table covered in french pastry isn't likely to do much in terms of eradicating racial dissension. The best solution to all of this would be to let black people be models in high fashion magazines as a matter of course, just like everybody else.
