Liya Kebede was spotted in Mali doing a spread for Vogue Magazine. Titled “From Here to Timbuktu”, the shoot seems to be opening up the discussions, once again, about using black models in the otherwise blandly pale landscape of modeling. It also raises the question about whether the people that are in the shoot with her will be getting paid for their part in the shoot, after all, Vogue will be making money off the pictures. My guess is that they don’t get a cent…..sigh!

On a more positive note, Vogue Italia is going to be doing a shoot with all black models (Jourdan Dunn is on the cover and Liya Kebede is one of the other models). Doesn’t sound incredible, does it? Yet it has caused a firestorm of discussion and a round of kudos for Vogue Italia for being the ‘first’ to take that step. How dismal. That signals, to me, that we are so far behind in the fashion world if we think that beauty and style come in one generic package. From Africa alone I can think of several gorgeous women in various sizes that are making a significant impact on the modeling field (Iman, Liya Kebede, Teiko Dornor, Oluchi, Alek Wek, Yordanos Teshager, Noella Coursaris, Kadra Ahmed-Omar, Yasmine Warsame, Kadiatu, Nnenna Agba, etc.) and look as good or better than the other models.

We are an international community with almost no borders. It’s time for the fashion industry to embrace and accept that. We are in the 21st Century for goodness sake! Let’s reflect the real world.