By:  Lynn Green

Do you ever read fashion magazines? It is quite easy in a fashion magazine to find all white models. And there are certain magazines that will book a black model, but it’s pretty obvious that the model is simply a token.

Well, something really interesting has happened at Italian Vogue and it’s actually a history making event. I don’t forsee it ever happing in American vogue and that’s unfortuanate. Check this out:

For the July issue of Italian Vogue, Mr. Meisel has photographed only black models. In a reverse of the general pattern of fashion magazines, all the faces are black, and all the feature topics are related to black women in the arts and entertainment. Mr. Meisel was given roughly 100 pages for his pictures. The issue will be on European newsstands next Thursday and in the United States soon after.

Under its editor, Franca Sozzani, Italian Vogue has gained a reputation for being more about art and ideas than commerce. Ms. Sozzani also doesn’t mind controversy.

She said that, as an Italian, she has been intrigued by the American presidential race and Mr. Obama, which was one source of inspiration when she and Mr. Meisel began discussing, in February, the idea of an all-black issue. Also, she was aware of the lack of diversity on the runways in recent years and the debate it fueled last fall in New York, where Bethann Hardison, a former model who ran a successful agency, held two panel discussions on the topic.

Ms. Sozzani said the issue was not a response to criticism that she, too, has under-represented blacks or portrayed them as stereotypes.

Mine is not a magazine that can be accused of not using black girls, said Ms. Sozzani, noting that Naomi Campbell has had several covers, and that Liya Kebede and Alek Wek have also had covers.

Having worked at one time with nearly all the models he chose for the black issue — Iman, Ms. Campbell, Tyra Banks, Jourdan Dunn, Ms. Kebede, Ms. Wek, Pat Cleveland, Karen Alexander — Mr. Meisel had his own feelings. I thought, it’s ridiculous, this discrimination, said Mr. Meisel, speaking by phone from his home in Los Angeles. It’s so crazy to live in such a narrow, narrow place. Age, weight, sexuality, race — every kind of prejudice.

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Hat tip to HickTowner, Tracie for story lead