Comments on: Vogue Italia Says Black Beauties Deserve Their Own Spotlight

By: Vixenlibra

Vixenlibra — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:06:31 +0000

I like it…No, I LOVE IT!

By: BlaqCurrant

BlaqCurrant — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:02:43 +0000

Yea Black Vogue! Yea Black period! I can appreciate the acknowledgement, I think this is a good start, I shall watch and wait and see what comes of it.

By: Ebony Intuition

Ebony Intuition — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:29:51 +0000

@Safera I’m glad you mentioned the lil point about Suede Magazine because on a regular basis black women keep claiming that they are the largest base of readers when it comes to non black magazine which is false. If black women were such a large readership base then magazines such as Suede, Honey, Vibe Vixen wouldn’t have folded.

New magazines like Arise Magazine and BHF Magazine which are magazines from Africa are doing very well because their readership base is very large, plus Arise sponsored the Arise fashion show which shows the power they have in the magazine world right now.

With that in mind maybe black women specifically in American should focus on building a new magazine here instead of trying to rent a few pages from Vogue etc.

The concept of Vogue Black is good but at the end of the day Vogue Italia/Conde Nest owns it which means all the money generated goes to them and they can also pull the plug at any moment.

By: Safera

Safera — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:40:44 +0000

Famine, you make a lot of great points. Vogue is an institution and even if it be for the sake of tradition, it will still be around for a long time.

Using one of the examples you made about the editors being in their sixties, this may be true, but bear in mind there are many a 50-something, 40-something, 30something and 20-something year old women who aspire to work for these publications and those who live (or is it die) for it, so they will usher Vogue into another decade (at least) perhaps adjusting to what’s…well in vogue.

I have always thought it was an elitist “high” society publication. What surprises me is the multitude of people who seek validation from this institution. Personally I’m indifferent to this latest news because what has Vogue done for me lately? Nada!

Cash is king in their world and if anyone is dissatisfied with what they offer, support publications that do cater to your needs (even if not completely). I feel you’ll gain more change with a publication that prizes you as their audience versus a publication that sees you as an afterthought, or worse irrelevant.

I’m sure I raised similar sentiments 2 years ago during the Vogue Italia hype where they couldn’t even translate the articles into English! And yes, I know it’s an Italian publication but clearly they knew it would attract more non-Italian speaking people to this particular issue, right?

I feel sorry for publications for people of colour that have a short lifespan because they don’t get the support they need to stay afloat financially. If this much was written about Suede Time Inc. would have no choice but to at least consider bringing it back, because the bottom line is what counts fashion bombers.

By: Famine

Famine — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:13:18 +0000

Also, thanks to hip hop (and other advances) we’ll have young black socialites who can afford to buy fashion and will actually be consumers of this magazine. Vogue is a magazine for rich people, period. Rich people can afford to shop. Shopping is a luxury and shopping for expensive items is something only a select few can do. I think that’s the main reason Vogue doesn’t integrate because we are, economically speaking, not their target customer. Fast forward 10 years and tell me Ming and Aoki Simmons, Justin Combs, etc wont’ be sitting at those Couture shows in Paris. Our world is changing, this is just the beginning.

By: Famine

Famine — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:54:03 +0000

This might also be a generational thing. Think about us (I’m in my late twenties) and the kids younger than us who grew up dating people outside their race, coming out at a young age, embracing their curves. Vogue is headed by people in their 60′s…they basically grew up with the civil rights movement at a time when their reality literally did not include anyone different. I think there’s hope for the future and this is a step in the right direction. The real question is, will Vogue exist by the time the young ones decide to become magazine editors?

By: kalliebree

kalliebree — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:11:59 +0000

Not sure how I feel about this separate but equal ish. This approach is a bit dated and it’s a bit shocking that the solution for a multi-cultural society is still to create separate outlets instead of fusing and integrating them. when will it ever end. What about the “mixed race” population that is just getting bigger where do they fit in to the equation. We need drop all the boxes we put people in and just be human and celebrate diversity.

By: Alicia

Alicia — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:02:03 +0000

Suede…come back Suede come back!! OMG, the friggin best ever of multiculty