black supermodels
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From Here to Eternity: Fashion Icon Bethann Hardison Proves Her Slay Is Timeless in Gucci's New Lookbook
When it comes to fashion influencers, there’s one who’s been at it since before Instagram was a twinkle in its creators’ eyes. Advocate, activist, agent, influencer and prodigal model Bethann Hardison began her approximately 50-year career in fashion as a merchandising student who failed to graduate from New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology (h/t…
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'I Won’t Do an All-Black Show': Naomi Campbell Talks Representation, Reputation, Racism and Why Meghan Markle Is Right to Defend Herself
“We just want balance, end of story,” says Naomi Campbell in a recent interview with the Guardian. Long one of the few black “supers” (as in supermodels), in recent years, Campbell, in partnership with fellow fashion legends Iman and Bethann Hardison, has become an advocate for diversity in the fashion industry. This followed decades of…
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‘I Am the Face of a Refugee’: Iman Joins Humanitarian Leader CARE as Its 1st Global Advocate
She’s been a supermodel, a beauty industry entrepreneur and pioneer, a fashion designer, activist, mother, and wife and partner to a rock star. But the fashion industry icon known simply as Iman wants to remind us that she is also a refugee. On Tuesday, the Somali-American beauty, born Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid, announced a new role:…
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London Calling: Naomi Campbell Struts Into London Fashion Week With Fashion For Relief
Most of the fashion world (read: this writer) is still recovering from New York Fashion Week, but the die-hards among us subsequently made their way across the pond to see what the British are serving for Spring-Summer 2020, as London Fashion Week kicked off last Friday. One of the first must-have tickets of the week?…
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'This Would’ve Not Happened to a White Model': Australian Magazine Messily Misidentifies Model Adut Akech
She has opened and closed runway shows for Chanel and Valentino, is on the cover of three global editions of Vogue this September alone and is considered one of the faces pushing black beauty ever forward, but Adut Akech Bior (best known in the fashion world as Adut Akech) recently suffered a major indignity on…
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'The Challenge Is Permanent': Naomi Campbell Reveals 'Revolting' Racist Incident at a French Hotel
Naomi Campbell is perhaps the most enduring and recognizable supermodel in the world, but as she revealed in an interview with Paris Match (translated from French via Google), her stardom is still no safeguard from racism. Saying “the challenge is permanent,” the model recounted an incident during the Cannes Film Festival—well-trod territory for the catwalk…
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Three Times a Lady: When I Grow Up, I Want to Be Like Iman (or Ciara, or Teyana, or…)
How do you celebrate 25 years of hosting the biggest celebration of black womanhood in the world? If you’re Essence magazine, you mark the spirit of the summer festival season by featuring three dynamically different beauties on your covers—all with a common gift for killing the game. Is the eternal slay of the iconic Iman…
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'Change the Game': Halima Aden Makes Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue History in a Hijab
Halima Aden has been changing the game since 2016, when she became the first contestant in the Miss Minnesota USA pageant to wear a hijab—and made it to the semifinals. In the years since, the Somali refugee-turned-burgeoning supermodel has been lighting up runways and magazine covers alike, reinforcing the fact that modesty can be glamorous,…
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Leomie Anderson Just Became the Newest Victoria's Secret Angel to Get Her Wings
To say we have issues with Victoria’s Secret would be an understatement. The lingerie brand we grew up with has been repeatedly slow to do some growing up of its own in recent years, ignoring an increasingly inclusive fashion industry, and justifying their reluctant to adapt by saying certain models—including plus and trans women—just don’t…
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'My Choice': With a Series of All Black, All Hijabi April Covers, Vogue Arabia Demystifies Muslim Modesty
“I think it’s important to remember that wearing a hijab is a woman’s personal choice. It doesn’t make her any better or worse than another Muslim woman. To me, it symbolizes modesty and gives me a sense of power,” supermodel Halima Aden tells Vogue Arabia. Aden, a groundbreaking Muslim model who has become a well-known…