From Precious
May, 2009
The Women’s Library debates Italian Vogue’s ‘A Black Issue’
.
Were you one of the myriad people who tried to purchase a copy of that magazine?
The closest many of us come to the publication was a few pages on the
internet and of course those copies being sold on
Ebay
several times over its original cover-price. The magazine in question is
Italian Vogue’s ‘A Black Issue’, which featured models Veronica Webb,
Jourdan Dunn,
Naomi Campbell and the voluptuous Toccara Jones, to name a few.
It seems there isn’t an arena inn which US President, Barack Obama hasn’t
touched. Italian Vogue’s editor at the time, Franca Sozzani, when talking
about her
inspiration for the black edition, mentions the Obama election campaign
and related it to black models not being highly profiled in the fashion
industry. It also cannot be overestimated the importance of the edition
becoming manifest
through Italian Vogue, Italy being a very tough market for models, let
alone any of colour.
A discussion about the consistent lack of black faces in magazines is
not new. October 2007 saw New York Public Library’s ‘Out Of Fashion: The
Absence Of Color.’ It was described as a ‘conversation’ and was hosted
by formidable
agent Bethann Hardison. The panel included stylist Lori Goldstein and fashion
designer Tracy Reese. Almost as an omen, a year after the New York debate,
the Italian Vogue edition arrived which galvanised even more discussions,
debates and arguments world-wide!
Enter then the UK's The Women’s Library as one of the latest organisations
to formally host some of the fall-out of one of Vogue’s most talked about
editions.
Sandwiched between London Metropolitan University, in refurbished east-end
wash houses, The Woman’s Library is a precious resource documenting women’s
lives in Britain. A significant exhibition currently on display is ‘Between
the Covers: Women’s Magazines and their Readers’.
Whether we like it or not, transient or trivial as they may seem, the cultural
significance of magazines cannot be dismissed. Men’s magazines came late onto
the bandwagon. Lamentably for some, magazine consumption figures are in decline.
Just the strongest ones, i.e. those with powerful publishing houses and deep
pockets, are given the time needed to survive.
The Women’s Library collection maps the development of women’s magazines
from as early as the 17th century to the present day. The collection relies
on donations and as such are lacking in some areas. One such area is that
of magazines of black British origin. Gail Cameron, Curator of Special
Collections openly admits this and frequently requests donations from any
source. It
was timely then that the Italian Vogue edition came as it did and The Women’s
Library believed that it was fitting to host a reflective discussion over
the furore.
Jennifer G. Robinson meets Chandan Mahal, Head of Audience Development, who is part of organising The Women’s Library debate, ‘Black in fashion: have we turned the page?’ Chandan has extensive experience in collating histories.
Chandan Mahal: I’ve been at The Women’s Library for a year, but I worked
at the Museum of London for ten years. My background is in fashion and textiles.
I’ve been involved in doing fashion education projects and work with exhibitions
and galleries like the V&A. My work has included a lot of community projects to bring in different audiences
and represent different audiences within our collections.
My interest has always been the African and Asian experience and history.
In terms of the Library it’s about how we can represent women’s history more.
Again the historical collections we have don’t necessarily have a lot of material
related to women that were involved in other parts of the community. For instance
there is one project at the moment that looks at the women’s liberation movement.
We’re hoping to develop that to look at the black women’s movement and Asian
women’s movement because they are not as well documented as the British white
women’s movement.
Precious: Is The Women’s Library not jumping onto a juggernaut of a band-wagon? Why are you hosting such an event?
CM: It’s a discussion; the idea is to have a debate. Individual panellists have been invited to have an interaction with an audience to talk about some of the issues around how black models are represented in the media, particularly mainstream media. It has been triggered by Italian Vogue but it’s a debate that’s been going on for a long time, so it’s nothing new. It just happened that that Vogue edition came out whilst we were planning the exhibition.
P: Chandan too, was witness to the madness of trying to purchase a copy of Italian Vogue and hints at the implicit publicity stirring the issue which only served to whip up a frenzy; almost a reverse psychology on us all.
CM: I’m sure you like me and many other people got a text or e-mail saying “…please go out and buy Vogue; they’re saying it’s not going to sell and it’s going to be their least selling issue…” In a way I think that was all part of the hype - not that I knew that at the time. I really wish we’d bought more copies. Now it’s become an almost precious magazine, we’re not even allowed to have a look at the only copy we’ve got because we’re worried that it might get stolen or damaged!
P: With the sell-out that the edition was, the well-worn ‘reason’ bandied
about by editors and publishers of mainstream magazines don’t seem to wash;
the idea that not having a Caucasian face fronting magazine covers spells
disaster for sales-figures. The Vogue ‘black issue’ demonstrated a ravenous
hunger for images of variety, the type of which is reflected in our daily
lives. It beckons a core, more sophisticated mainstream reader who is ready
for a more holistic vision of what is beautiful and/or fashionable.
CM: Why is something like this a big issue still? There’s just no rationale
behind it; there’s obviously a huge market for it. So all the kinds of
myths that you have around (black issue/cover magazines), that it’s not
going to sell enough, or their core, white readers would be put off just
doesn’t really work. Although there have been various quotes from the
likes of Alexandra Shulman, (British Vogue editor) saying there is now
a representative representation of the population, there’s only two or
three names that stick in your mind. We are more than ready for it and
consumers are ready to enjoy those images as much as they enjoy any other.
I don’t think that should be a factor which prevents magazines doing
that. Whether the magazines still see that I don’t know. That is a key
question.
P: Was it easy to get the industry to participate in the Women’s Library event?
CM: Whilst organising the debate it’s been really hard to get mainstream editors to come – it’s hard to get mainstream editors to come to any event, but this one in particular. One or two only hesitantly agreed. They don’t feel comfortable in (such a) debate one saying that she didn’t feel that she was the best person to represent mainstream magazines, which is a bit of a cop-out really.
P: Vogue is a fashion magazine; but with fashion would you not say that it trickles down into other areas; so it trickles into film, it trickles into music and television. Many of us are consumers of all of those things; doesn’t that put fashion and this whole debate at an important level?
CM: Exactly, in that whole way about how you’re represented in the media trickles down to people like yourself and the wider debate about younger people and the kind of influence that has. You can talk a lot about the influence that models have on young people. You may not look like them but there is a lot of research to suggest that you might aspire to have certain things they have.
P: But the way in which we see ourselves, is that really the responsibility of fashion editors of magazines?
CM: Well probably not really, but at the end of the day that’s what they’re trying to sell; ideas of beauty, ideas of great lifestyle, what life could be like if you look like this. Totally unrealistic!
P: As far as the ‘black issue’ of Vogue is concerned, things seem to have come to a full-stop. Do you think there could be others i.e. a British or an American Vogue which featured all black models or would that be patronising?
CM: I think it would look rather odd now, because even though it was Italian Vogue, all those models as international models are featured in magazines, so personally I think (there could be) another one, but it would have to be with a different focus.
P: Indicating where a focus might lead Chandan emphasises that the current debate is and is often only about the representation of models of African and Caribbean descent. It also returns us to the argument over variety, or to use a clichéd word within the ‘race’ language…diversity.
CM: There are a whole load of other ethnicities that aren’t represented, like Asian models, or middle-eastern models, why are we not having a debate about that?!
P: As with so many of these types of discussions and debates, they seem to fizzle out, with not much action evolving from them. How is The Women’s Library event going to be any different; what would you like to come out of the event?
CM: Whether it could happen here. Is there a necessity for an all black British Vogue? Is it that mainstream magazines have to be more accountable? There is also the issue of power – is it the editors who have that kind of control and decision making about who features in these magazines? Also have we moved on? Maybe we’re making a fuss about nothing. Some would argue that in the ‘70s and ‘80s a lot of black models were in magazines. A lot of designers like Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy used a lot of black models and we didn’t think much about it because it was common, but then it sort of disappeared. Also in the images of the ‘70s and ‘80s there is the issue about how the black models were used in shoots to suggest exoticism and an ‘ethnic’ feel. I think they have moved on a little but in some ways it comes back to that. With recent years the waif-like, anorexic look has become fashionable, black models aren’t necessarily going to feature in that.
P: Do you think that we need a black press or an Asian press? Do we need award ceremonies that honour black actors, musicians, authors etc.?
CM: I think we do to be honest… Often when they (issues) are featured in mainstream magazines they are featured in a different way. The mainstream magazines will come at it from a different angle (which shows) they don’t really know. Things like arranged marriages seen in a mainstream magazine or newspaper will have a certain focus on what it’s trying to say and it will always comes across as being some kind of weird barbaric thing that’s going on within that community. But in some Asian magazines it comes from a perspective that is a bit more realistic. It’s not a ‘victim’ kind of approach. But it comes back to that whole thing about power, decision making and attitude.
P: Can we really be critical of mainstream magazines wanting to maintain
healthy financial bottom-lines. Numerous magazines launch then fold within
months because of budgetary constraints. Considering the harsh financial realities
of the publishing industry why should magazines break a formula which seems
to work?
CM: I think that is an
issue. I can’t speak about what the solution is. Some of the Asian magazines
have folded quite quickly. Editors seem
to change every few months so there’s not been much consistency. Even
when it’s been successful they haven’t been able to maintain (the success).
To me there is a need for them, but then they are not always supported
by the advertisers and to be fair the communities don’t always buy them.
It’s a two way thing where you have to build up your loyalties with your
readers, but making sure you are responding to what their interests and
needs are.
P: Some of the most successful magazines demonstrate longevity through consistent editorial direction which helps to give magazines identity audiences could latch on to. Cases in point are Vogue’s Anna Wintour. She is the magazine and what she embodies filters down to Vogue’s content. Dylan Jones as editor of GQ exudes a certain je ne se qua which splatters some kudos within its pages. Unfortunately, a number of black magazines have changed their editors more times than their cover-lines leaving the publication afloat – only just, but rudderless. Hankering after mainstream templates which even core audiences are tiring of.
CM: That is one of the weaknesses and why they don’t probably last very
long, or if they do, they are not consistent (in content). But I don’t know
if the answer is going mainstream.
I hope it is an event that will attract interest. It is a new kind of event
for us, even though it does fit in with the Library. Not getting mainstream
editors is a difficult aspect of it because the debate could be one-sided.
What is interesting (is) questioning the future of the Italian Vogue issue;
was it just a (gimmick)? Why do it if it’s not something that is going to
be taken seriously? It’s almost like someone giving you a taster and saying
you’ve had it then…but you can’t have it again!
P: Since interviewing Chandan, excitingly, the latest edition of US
Vogue features the USA’s First Lady, Michelle Obama…on its front cover – whatever
next?!
Attend:
‘Black in fashion: have we turned the page?’
Venue: The Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University, Old Castle
Street, London E1 7NT
Date: Wednesday 13th May 2009, 7pm
Admission: £8/6
To Book: 020 7320 2222 or e-mail; moreinfo@thewomenslibrary.ac.uk
Speakers:
Carol Tulloch - trAIN/V&A Research Fellow
Carole White - Premier Model Management
Sole Adeyake - Mahogany Models
Jennifer G. Robinson - Precious online Magazine
Ashanti Omkar – Henna
In collaboration with Precious Magazine
Visit The Women’s Library website:
www.londonmet.ac.uk/thewomenslibrary/
Watch New York Public Library’s ‘Out Of Fashion: The Absence Of Color’:
http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/pep/pepdesc.cfm?id=3579
The Women’s Library Between the Covers: Women’s Magazines and their Readers’
is on display until 1st April 2009, entry for this is free.
The Women’s Library
London Metropolitan University
Old Castle Street
London E1 7NT
More features here.