Black tells you how you look, but it doesn’t tell you who you are” -John Henrik Clarke.
It seems there are some Black Publication who are riding this quote without getting its intended message.  Just because Black just tells you how you look, doesn’t mean White can tell you who you are.

I hope Black people in particular really take heed to this quote because enough is enough with being stuck on stupid & acting like we don’t know any better, being the perpetual victims as we victimize ourselves while acting as if the information which we say we seek in defining who we are historically as a people is not readily available to us if we are honest about seeking it. It saddened me to see the video below & to be reminded decade after decade, year after year that Black children still prefer the white doll over the black doll & still do not see themselves as beautiful. At this point in history, we have no one to blame but ourselves because we have done a disservice to our youth- generation after generation. Our story started before slavery & continues above & beyond slavery, so let’s stop continuously allowing ourselves & others to make the entire sum of the Black experience globally to be based on a story that consists solely of pre-slavery, slavery & post-slavery with a mix of white supremacy throughout that entire experience. This only allows us to continue the mentality & bondage of slavery that taught us not to appreciate & love ourselves for our many shades & shapes that existed way before slavery.

“I always associated black with ugly. I was too dark and didn’t have nice hair,” said Catherine de la Rosa, a dark-skinned Dominican-American college student spending a semester here. “With time passing, I see I’m not black. I’m Latina.To many Dominicans, to be black is to be Haitian. So dark-skinned Dominicans tend to describe themselves as any of the dozen or so racial categories that date back hundreds of years — Indian, burned Indian, dirty Indian, washed Indian, dark Indian, cinnamon, moreno or mulatto, but rarely negro.The Cuban black was told he was black. The Dominican black was told he was Indian,” said Dominican historian Celsa Albert, who is black. “I am not Indian. That color does not exist. People used to tell me, ‘You are not black.’ If I am not black, then I guess there are no blacks anywhere, because I have curly hair and dark skin.” READ MORE

Globally we are all descendants of Africa but slavery is what came into play in our human greed & envy to separate us. We will all watch this video & shake our head & be disgusted & horrified that young people & even babies are expressing this type of self hate in their blackness, but we fail to listen carefully & to hear that these ideas that manifested into self hate came from people that looked just like them rather than the White media, slavery & everthing else we choose to blame besides ourselves. We can not teach our children to love themselves if we have not found that love within ourselves. No white person ever taught these children about or gave them bleaching creams- WE DID THAT. Whether it is a family member or friend calling a child outside of their name by calling them “a lil nigga” or relaxing a 3 year old’s hair because her hair is too nappy & unmanageable at an age when she can only comprehend good or bad & not that mama has 3 jobs & 3 kids that she has to feed, get dressed & ready for school everyday before she can even get to her first job, when she just came from her 3rd job less than 5 hours ago & is running on 3 hours sleep & doing it all alone; so she is just looking for any possible way to make her daily process go faster & smoother without thinking that she is teaching her child to hate her hair because the pain of the relaxer feels more like a punishment than anything any child can possibly comprehend as helpful or good. Whether it is our own publications, videos, films & over all media giving preference to the type of Black that is closer to white, be it Halle Berry & Beyonce over Angela Bassett & Estelle- WE DID THAT!

I stopped reading Ebony, Essence & Vibe Magazine a long time ago because they just didn’t speak to me nor really excite me in their content, the same way I had no interest in spending my money on Vanity Fair, Vogue or Glamour because they really didn’t speak to me or excite me in their content either; however the only diffrence is that Vanity Fair,Vogue & Glamour never told me that they were ever there to represent me as a Black woman in defining my Blackness in beauty.

A few days ago I received a text from a friend telling me how the “Blackarati” of the fashion world were in an uproar because Essence magazine had hired a White Female Fashion Director & in a matter of hours I also found out that Vibe Magazine had already done the same & we have all known that the new “Blackarati” darling, Arise Magazine took this colonial mentality straight from Africa & started from jumpstreet with a white woman defining what we now applaud & embrace as global Africaness in beauty, fashion & music without giving a second thought to who is defining our Global Africaness for us because we as Black people have always been so welcoming, hospitable  & open minded, which historically has led to being taken advantage of, being stripped of all that we own & being redefined by others to a point of global systemic self hate & confusion!

It is not simply nor solely about a matter of Black & White, but about legacy, strides & the fact that not much has changed for the majority of Black people in the world even though many would like to convince us that it has & that there is no need for any forms of affirmative action or exclusivity in the type of black pride & support that built these publications & media outlets when we had none & were specifically being shut out. As Fela says “Teacher don’t teach me no nonsense“… cuz dem all crazy.  This anger & protest is more to me about economic empowerement than just  fashion & Black & White, particulary at a time when there are more unemployed Black people in America than any other group of people.

“The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers — weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there’s money inside. There’s where the power lies.” Jesse Owens

When it’s beneficial to the white world at large then we should all be color blind & have diversity & equality for all, but I would rather Vogue take the first step in that direction before Essence because we’ve had a lot less time to enjoy the fruits of our labor before having to be the one to share it in good faith,diversity & racial progress. We owe it to ourselves in our “Ode to Black History” to be a little more conscious & sacred about the way we pimp it out or in some cases get pimped in allowing everyone to put their hands on it & to get a piece of it.

This is not to say that these White Fashion Directors, Editors in Cheifs etc. at publications focused & geared toward global Black lifestyles can not do the job or do not do a good job, but what message are we sending to our young people & particularly young girls like the ones in the video above when we allow White women to define our Blackness in style & beauty at our limited number of publications, while knowing very well that such an opportunity has never & will most likely not be  granted to us at a Glamour, Vogue or Vanity Fair because they are clear on who their target audience is & who they will allow to define & speak to that target audience.

Before anyone has the audacity to call me some sort of reverse racist since it seems to be the soup du jour chant of the moment, I want to ask you to be truthful to yourself in answering these questions: Were you in an uproar or did you even find anything wrong with Vanity Fair having a young Hollywood issue during the time of the Oscars featuring an all white cover pictorial with many unknown actresses while intentionally leaving out two Black female actresses -Zoe Saldana & Gabouray Sidibe- 1 whose movie was not only nominated for best film but also is the highest grossing film til to date & the other whose film received multiple nominations along with her own “best supporting actress” nomination? Have you ever found anything wrong or even questioned Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour & countless other publications who have never appointed a Fashion Director or Editor In Chief of any color other than White & who rarely if ever employ  Blacks as head fashion stylists, make up artists, hair stylists, photographers & art directors on major shoots? If your answer is No & you still think a Black women should not have the right to prefer to see another Black woman define her Blackness in a publication geared toward her, then maybe you are part of the problem of continuing a legacy that can find fault in the few Black publications having an obligation to employ Black people who are amongst the highest number of unemployed, particularly in such a limited nich market and allowing them to define our Blackness over a White woman.

The heads of these publications who are making these decisions to choose White over Black are the reasons why our children will always choose the white doll over the black doll. It seems intrinsically innate no matter how many years pass, how old we are or how many strides we have made. Don’t give me the usual BS about just a matter of  choosing the best candidate for the position which was not based on color, or that the world is changing & we have to be inclusive & diversify while others don’t see the need to be nor are they questioned about not doing so, or that amongst the high numbers of educated & unemployed Black people that a Black publication just couldn’t find a black person to give a hand up to because I am one of those African-Americans that knows better than that & refuse to believe that BS because I could have personally given you a long list of very accomplished, willing & able candidates.

I will give these White FD’s & EIC the benefit of the doubt because Arise Magazine has been consistently well done & has sparked my interest with every issue even though I believe there is room for more magazines  in this market to come out to compete, so I can decide if it’s actually solely because of the Editor’s superb vision, or because the content is rare & the only one of its kind in the market that sparks my interest or if it’s because it is truly as good as it gets. I have had the experience where  many White publications were more willing to showcase & feature African designers & African inspired fashion more often & long before some of these same Black publications when they had Black FD’s in charge, so as much as I am not happy with the decision made, I will hold judgement on the individual’s abilities & what they will & can bring to these publications in the long run.

For some reason Black publications always seem to feel limited by their Blackness & look to be accepted & validated in every way by bending over backwards to be inclusive in their hiring practices in high profile positions instead of  being inclusive by having the world come to them based on the level of their work, their standards & content as most other publications do. I know a White photographer who basically has made his entire living off of working for Black publications, but with every job he gets with these publications he acts as if  he is doing them a favor & that they should somehow feel privileged to be working with him instead of the other way around, even though very few White publications are knocking at his door because his body of work/book is filled with mostly images of Black people. This same said photographer is notorious for coming out of his face sideways  in speaking on & addressing Black people  & culture in his Lizzie Grubman/Liz Cohen Jewish “Power Girls”moments of thinking he is hired so often because he is the one that can keep Black people in check & on schedule -this arrogance & disrespect is who we put in charge of creating & defining the Black image! How can we ever forget the New York Magazine Story delving into how a crew of Jewish girls had pretty much taken over the PR , branding & image making of  many hip-hop artists where Liz Cohen stated, “She’s totally down with her clients like Funkmaster Flex,” says Cohen, impressed. … “But they needed two bigmouthed Jewish girls to tell it to these guys “.

We destroyed the high potential of  Black publications like Honey Magazine when we lost its initial focus & tried to revamp it as some sort of multiculti magazine that would represent every woman of color.  We can’t be everything to everyone & we will always lose our power, leverage & be  made a fool of when we lose our focus & try so hard to be multi-culti/bi-partisan. Ask President Obama how well that has worked out for him. Unfortunately this is our legacy, where we would rather not do the research when information is readily available to us, where we would rather think the worst of ourselves rather than give the benefit of the doubt, where we will easily compromise ourselves & our integrity to win white favor.

It was beyond amazing to me that after years of me trying to speak to everyone possible in order to get BET to showcase African artists from the motherland as a general part of Black Entertainment Television’s programming & award shows that this year they finally included a few African artists in a “special category” in their award show with little fanfare & acknowledgement, in the same year that the biggest story of the awards show announcements was that White Canadian artist, Justin Beiber was up for the coveted award of “best new artist”, which of course included no Africans from the motherland nor the diaspora outside of the USA even though BET has launched internationally- proving once again that we are often our own worse enemies in our setbacks & lack of  global forward movement. Once again the Joke was on us!

We have bought into & convinced ourselves that we are the consummate minority whose ultimate goal & achievement is to be accepted by the so called mainstream majority, while failing to do the research in attaining the power of information that would have told us that the Black experience is global & blackness represents a larger mainstream global majority which doesn’t tell us who we are because that part is up to us to define from Harlem, to Bankhead, to Kingston, to Old San Juan, to Santo Domingo, to Port au Prince, to Brixton, to Marseilles, to Salvador de Bahia, to Lagos, to Dakar & to Accra! We are global Africans with diverse roots in Black Africa & we should define ourselves accordingly!

“Sub-Saharan Africa does not bring to mind an image of a woman with perfectly manicured nails flipping through glossy magazines in search of the latest handbag or celebrity haircut. Yet such women are there, and in far greater numbers than the news media’s portrayal of Africa might suggest…In the wealthy neighborhoods of Lagos, Nigeria; Nairobi, Kenya; Luanda, Angola; Dakar, Senegal; and the like, ladies of leisure, successful businesswomen and middle-income housewives make up an attractive demographic that, in the past, relied on international fashion magazines for style and beauty information..But in the last few years, while Condé Nast, Hearst and Hachette Filipacchi were expanding throughout Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, a handful of African publishers were busy staking claims to this publishing territory. A result has been a series of new glossies, like Arise, HauTe, Helm and True Love, that put an African spin on fashion…“Honestly, upwardly mobile African readers are crying out for this magazine,” said Helen Jennings, editor of Arise, a monthly style publication started late last year by the Nigerian media tycoon Nduka Obaigbena, who also owns the country’s leading newspaper, ThisDay. “Because the local magazines aren’t as high-end or progressive, and no other international titles speak directly to an African readership, Arise has really caused a stir.” READ MORE

In the same week that the last of the strong holds in Black American fashion & beauty publications defined by the dark glowing beautiful skin, pearly white teeth with a gap &  deeply rooted & perfected African conrows of Susan Taylor had been handed over to a White Australian, an article came out saying how Vogue had declined Cameroonian photographer Mario Epanya’s creative crusade  in trying to bring about Vogue Africa. As much as I applaud Mario for his obvious creativity, I wish we would stop chasing mainstream & create our own, but our own also ends up needing & calling on mainstream to legitimize us, i.e. Vibe, Arise & now Essence. Why Blame Vogue for not wanting to include Vogue Africa in its roster instead of blaming ourselves for our unwavering misguided need to beg for inclusion from those who have never mixed their words about us not being their priority? Why not seek to partner with historically Black Ebony Magazine who is looking to revamp & bring newness to a new generation of global Black consumers & who has an archive of images in Black history that would probably make The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture foam at the mouth to be able to get their hands on it? Why not build from within instead of always looking out?

We do not need Vogue Africa to legitimaze our creativity, our beauty & our blackness. The covers below are sophisticated, elegant, engaging, inviting & authentically & beautifully African, having Vogue on it doesn’t make it any more or less representative of that. When are we going to realize that we will never be their target market & source of their funding & energy ? We will always be thrown a bone in a “special issue”  & no matter how successful that special issue is it will still be  shrugged off as a fluke & an anomaly. Vogue only has to look at its numbers  & the numbers of Arise & the few African centered publications that have popped up in the last few years to know that Vogue Africa makes sense financially, but God forbid  that Vogue Africa becomes more financially viable than it’s mother Anna Wintour with her current crusade to invoke Black exclusion & to wipe out black culture literally from her backyard!

“Instead of the issue not selling, it became the highest selling issues of Italian Vogue ever, and had run out of print twice, which marked the first time in Condé Nast history that the magazine reprinted an issue to satisfy demand. The reprinted copies had the tag lines: “Most Wanted Issue Ever” and “First Reprint” banded across the front. ..However, even though the advertising pages went up 30 percent. There was a “glaring lack of black models” in them. The photographer for the issue Steven Meisel, said: “I’ve asked my advertising clients so many times, ‘Can we use a black girl?’ They say no. Advertisers say black models don’t sell.” With the immense success of this issue, the question isn’t is America ready for a black model, it is now are magazines and advertisers ready for one?” Read More

We need to set our own standards within our own defintions & stop embodying & manifesting that White is right thru what we buy, what we read, who we hire, who & what we support & what we aspire to in life while we pump our Black power fist in the air- it’s a contradiction where the ultimate joke is played on us by us! With all the Black wealth in sports, entertainment & other fields being heralded in magazines like Forbes, Sports illustrated along with other publications & lists which in recent years have had Blacks from all over the world at the top of the list, you would think we would have our own fashion groups, investment banks, production studios, music groups & publishing houses like Condé Nast, LVMH, Morgan Stanley, Interscope & Dreamworks so we would not need to beg Vogue to put out Vogue Africa, or watch the dreams of young aspiring & talented global Africans in fashion, film, music etc. get deffered because they did not meet the standards to get their projects greenlighted by a white mainstream that only has a few slots for an exclusive few Blackarati!

“We don’t have to wait for someone to greenlight our projects we can create our own intersections..we don’t just have to act in the sitcom, we can own the show & the network..we don’t have to be at the end of the line waiting for a hand out, we can be at the front giving a hand up..we don’t have to wait for somebody to give us 40 acres & a mule we can buy our own.. U can b born into a whole lot of a nightmare but God can usher u into a dream” Tyler Perry

All Eyes are on South Africa with the world cup set to start the global football mania on Friday, but for those who want to explore the new cultural phenomena of South Africa, which has galvanized, organized & produced Africa’s go to fashion week to rival New York, London, Milan & Paris right in the heart of Johannesburg- look no further than the homegrown designers who are also set to take on the world stage.

The Smarteez, Kepi, Sibu, Floyd and Thabo are a collective of young DIY fashion designers from the township of Soweto, who represent a new post Apartheid decadence of young South Africans who embrace their freedom in creativity, nonconformity & partying like rock stars.

Check out their upcoming feature in the June South Africa Issue of Dazed.

Sun Goddess is a creation of the husband & wife design duo, Thando and Vanya Mangaliso. Sun Goddess has become one of South Africa’s iconic brands that has paved the way for the new kids on the block like Smarteez. Sun Goddess has built an empire that includes womenswear, menswear, children’s wear, bridal wear, swimwear and accessories strictly focused on celebrating African heritage.

“Fashion success is largely measured by international standards & for the most part those international standards are largely considered European or American. At Sun Goddess we shrug that off, we realize that we are creating something totally new. We’re creating African success which has existed for centuries. We’re inspired primarily by African- ancient African stories, ancient African costumes, ancient African culture. We are trying to preserve or rejuvenate clothes as people used to wear them it in prehistoric times, that’s our main source of inspiration… We make African clothing for African people.. preserving & celebrating African heritage so that’s the first foundation & Sun Goddess doesn’t move away from that. When you are secure in your identity & you are secure in where you come from people are attracted to that…”

David Tiale is by far one of the most prominent South African designers & a new global fashion darling who creates Haute Couture designs to rival his European counterparts. David Tiale is truly stepped up the game for African fashion creating fashion as art. Tiale has shown his collection in Paris, London & New York as well as doing his first ever fashion as art installation as the world renown MOMA (Museum of Modern Art).

Everywhere you look nowadays Africans are in power, in control & making power moves to showcase the new purchasing power, creativity & vision that puts a new face on Africa & Africans worldwide!

Nigerian, Chris Aire has been dubbed the Emperor of Ice and the Ice Man for his innate creativity in juxtaposing urban chic with hollywood glamour. I first heard of Chris Aire when he became the first jewelry designer to show his collection as fashion during the highly acclaimed New York Fashion Week . No one could forget Alek Wek strutting down the runway in nothing but a $50 million red gold halter dress!

Chris Aire has not only redefined the so called urban market in jewelry, but he has also created & patented his signature red gold which is now purchased & used by other designers all over the world. From his humble beginnings sleeping in his car with only $500 in the bank, Chris Aire is the epitome of Nigerian bigness that lives by the mantra “go big or go home”. He has not only gone very big with major celebrity following, but he has also gone home with a new partnership with Nigeria Ministry of Mines and Steel to debut his new Hollywood glamour collection. Who could ever forget May Anderson in Chris Aire’s 20 million dollar diamond dress or Naomi Campbell in his firts fashion week collection wearing the $10million dollar halter, or sexy model Tyson Beckford dripping in muscles & diamonds. Let’s just say Chris Aire knows how to put on a show that is filled with show stoppers &  satisfied revelers.

If anyone knows anything about Nigerians all over the world, you know that the Super Eagles like to do things big, whether it is the extravagantly large head wraps worn by their women or making major business moves. Chris Aire has brought his Nigerian bigness to Hollywood with flash & elegance.

Supermodel Alek Wek is the epitome of global style that is authetically African to the core. The dark chocolate statuesque Sudanese beauty adds the allure of royalty to everything she wears. A true globalnista needs just the right luggage to travel in style & Alek has come to the rescue with WEK 1933 (named for the year of her father’s birth).

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Travel With Alek

The most remote place you have been?
Sudan. Sometimes we were in the middle of nowhere. I’ve been to parts of Morocco that are pretty remote, too. I had a small part in the film Four Feathers with Heath Ledger, shot in the desert seven hours’ drive from Casablanca, out in the dunes. We ate couscous under the stars.

Most hardcore experiences?
Living in a tent in Niger. There were terrible sandstorms, so we had to wrap our faces in scarves. Going on safari in South Africa was hardcore but a lot of fun – though my friend Maura was absolutely freaking out about all the bugs in her hair and having to pee in the sand.

Travel tips?
Be comfortable. Wear comfy boots or shoes on the plane. Take a shawl sprayed with a favourite scent, in which to wrap yourself. Moisturise. I use La Prairie for my face, cocoa butter for my body, Juicy Tubes for my lips, and Aromatherapy Associates lavender or jasmine oils. I love rubbing on their De-Stress oil after a shower; so soothing.

Travel rituals?
I always light a candle in my hotel room, so it doesn’t feel so foreign: a Diptyque (RED) Vanilla and Rooibos, because a percentage of the money from each candle sold goes to fight Aids in Africa. I’ve seen how just two pills can save someone’s life, so if I can buy anything that supports (RED), I do. I also read wherever I am. It might be the Dalai Lama, or something inspiring like Lighting the Way: Nine Women Who Changed Modern America, or Say You are One of Them by Uwem Akpan. The beauty of reading is that it lets you travel in a way you could never know. My iPod is always with me, too: I might play Alicia Keys, or Santana, or Norah Jones if I want something soothing, or Zairean music, such as Koffi [Olomide] , who does amazing dance music and videos. Wow, those girls can dance! Full on!

Favourite New York haunts?
Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, where there’s a great deli called Sahadi’s, with food from all over the world: big beans with feta and onions, falafel, chickpeas with chilli. Delicious. Also Layla, a boutique on Hoyt Street, where everything is hand-picked or handmade in India and Afghanistan, to help women feed their families.

Best places to eat in New York?
For brunch, Schiller’s on Rivington Street or Pastis on 9th Avenue in the Meatpacking District, for its sandwiches, its salad niçoise and the best crème brûlée in town. For dinner, I go to Japonais, on 18th Street, which serves little portions of Asian food to share with friends, and a hot pepper to sprinkle on it. And, obviously, Nobu in Tribeca.

The most romantic hotel?
The Horned Dorset because it is so private. When you walk off your balcony, you are surrounded by birds and butterflies.The Delano in Miami is pretty amazing, too: especially those deep bathtubs made of beautiful grey marble.

Best hotel rooms?
I like unique little boutique hotels, such as Blakes in London. If you’re going to stay in a big hotel, though, the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong has one of the best spas and pools. After a swim, a herbal tea and a massage, you disappear into la-la-land.

Favourite shops abroad?
The souks of Marrakesh, for mirrors and old swords. Frette in Milan for sheets. Colette in Paris, for things you don’t get anywhere else – and great European music. I bought Cadenza Classics last time I was there, and I play it all the time.

The best airline?
Virgin, because when you walk on, it doesn’t feel like you are on a plane. The crew are friendly – and you can get a massage in the air. British Airways is good, too. The seats are comfortable and I like that shutter you pull up for privacy.
Source:telegraph.co.uk- Read More Here

Alek Wek recently shot an amazing fashion spread for “Financial Times-How To Spend It” that truly served her royalty right. The beautiful colors of global fabrics with styling by Damian Foxe truly lived up to the name of the fashion spread entitled: Global Gathering!

Check out the full fashion Spread Here

I am right there with Necole Bitchie as she asks “Is Kobe Bryant Serious“? Everyone has been having a hell of a fun time joking on Kobe Bryant for his recent LA Times Magazine photo spread. The fashion shoot has caused so much backlash of jokes on Kobe that the stylist on the shoot had to come out with a statement defending his work. LA Lakers teammate Derek Fisher’s reaction & commentary is by far my favorite & most hilarious!

In a failed effort toward some sort of artistic fashion forward chic look, Kobe ends up looking like a weird black-faced, ambiguously gay or extremely metrosexual sambo in haute couture! Someone went a little nuts on the photoshop & forgot that Kobe Bryant is & should be known for the great legacy (4 championship rings & counting) he is building in his game on the basketball court, as one of the top paid NBA players who can not & should not ever try to come for or be turned into Djimon Hounsou!

This LA Times Magazine & Kobe Byrant collaboration is far from even a wannabe Herb Ritts & Djimon Hounsou collaboration that truly celebrated the artistic beauty of fashion & photography in black & white!

I have always loved me some Naomi, flaws & all because I had always seen myself in her beyond just our shared skin tone. She not only represented the beauty of brown skin, but had that innate exterior Black girl power with a walk that no one else could match & just simply had to call her Fierce- in the most powerful amazonian way with a roar that leaves you in awe wondering about the mystery behind the surface! Naomi took the baton from great global Black models like Pat Cleveland, Beverly Johnson & Iman & set the world on fire while setting the path for a new generation of a fashion industry that would recognize that “Black is Beautiful too”. Naomi defined the era of true real life “Super Models” who were known worldwide simply by their first names, knew their worth to the fashion industry & demanded to be well compensated for it! These models were more than just hangers for expensive fashion; they were enterprising business women who found their power & “Freedom” in simply being beautiful!

I have always admired Iman as the graceful, elegant & beautiful African woman inside & out that I hope to become, but have always loved Naomi’s power as the unapologetic, hautely fierce down home English-Jamaican of African descendants type of “rude girl” who was a work in progress, thru the confines of the history that all that entails in becoming that full circle woman who both she & I hope to be. Naomi after two decades of being continuously relevant in fashion, an achievement that few can contend with, sat down with Oprah, did the ugly cry & decided to tell her story by bearing her soul & as she says “realizing that you must surrender at some point in your life”!

Naomi has been praised, celebrated, ridiculed & judged by a world that lifts up celebrities & icons as false idols to admire & worship while waiting for the opportunity to tear them down from their mantle & idol worship. Human beings often forget that public figures are simply human beings in extraordinary situations. We are so quick to judge without truly knowing anyone’s full story or remembering & recognizing our own, in the fact that we are all a work in progress. There is no amount of money & fame that can compensate for deep rooted feelings & emotional childhood baggage of abandonment, lack of love & trust of family & those who one considers true friends. As the saying goes ” Never judge a man/woman until you have walked in their shoes”. Many of us would love to have the opportunity to walk in the exterior glamourous life & Louboutin’s of Naomi- I mean hell- even one of the most influential & loved women in the world, billionaire one name wonder, Oprah, said she would look at Naomi & want to walk a day in her shoes, but we must all be careful of what we wish for as we focus on the exterior because when the mask comes off the consequences are often grave!

For many of us it takes us a lifetime to find our inner peace, our true selves, our true happiness in allowing us to love ourselves fully & to just simply BE! For some they never find that place, but Naomi magnificently approaching 40 with all of her accomplishments & life trials seems to be on the road to a peaceful existence in truly loving herself by finding true love in the strength & solid foundation of a strong man, a strong mother who recognizes & apologizes for her own faults & failures that her child had to carry in trying to be the best she could be & thru real solid friends who have remained with her thru her darkest times & have simply allowed her to find her strength & power in her vulnerability to just BE! Love is by far the most powerful thing on this earth & without it we are all broken! Find love, spread love & receive love because thru love we all come to find the freedom to realize that past hurts can leave us bruised but not broken!

I had to write this blog to give a different perspective of self responsibility and to shout it to Black people & people of color that our power & self worth is not determined by inclusion in the mainstream or what White people think of us. Even though I really did not want to give any more press or credence to French Vogue’s “black face issue” or the continual absence of Black models on the runways of major designers during fashion week, too many people, especially Black people have been stepping right in to give them the hype, press & attention they were looking for in an era of slow selling mainstream magazines & slower selling luxury designer threads seeking controversy to make them relevant.

From The Daily News to every fashion blogger globally, the talk seems to be about French Vogue’s super models issue which did not feature any Black supermodels, yet it had the audacity to feature Dutch model, Lara Stone, in black face, along with the endless fashion week runway shows from New York to Europe with little to no models of color gracing the runways of fashion’s elite designers. Without the outrage very few of these magazines would have been sold and many of these designers would have gotten lack luster press to match some of their lack luster collections fantasizing about African & Black cultural esthetics. The French Vogue issue to me was obviously for provocation because they already pulled the stunt of dedicating a whole issue of Vogue Italia showcasing only Black models, which we as Black people made all the rage & the top selling issue of Vogue Italia’s history, in our false sense of being included in an industry that has told us for centuries that we are not their target market until those special issues & occasions when there is money to be made. If we really want to make a statement then let Rihanna, Jay Z, Beyonce, Oprah & the Halle Berry’s of the world stop doing their covers & endorsing their products until they start being genuinely inclusionary & representations of the so called post racial era of Obama.

Why are we always playing into these stunts & demanding inclusion & apologies instead of raising the bar to a point where they are begging for inclusion in magazines which specifically cater to us, the inspiration behind most of their styles. African & Black culture has always been at one time or the other the inspiration for countless mainstream fashion collections without ever having representation in the outcome of what they inspire. There are tons of designers of color creating brilliant fashion on a global level yet very few know about them, particularly women of color who spend millions of $ on fashion annually, because magazines like Essence, Vibe, Honey etc. would rather feature Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel & all those other designers who we always claim exclude us. If called out on it or asked why – these magazines that are supposed to be multi-culti or afrocentric will probably give a lame excuse like “we feature those designers because that is who our readers like or see as aspirational”. Well guess what, that’s the same excuse that the mainstream magazines & designers give as well because they are also in the business of showing who their core customer/reader likes as well. At the end of the day it is about education on all parts & everyone expanding their horizons & seeing beyond their narrow view of the world of fashion and the world in general.

In a business where even bad press is better than no press at all, I am starting to think that the whole topic of exclusion & painting black face gets more press than inclusion. As Black people & people of color, we just need to stop waiting & asking for mainstream to do right by us & let’s focus on doing right by ourselves. Many magazines who cater to women of color often rarely show much variation in the models in their own fashion spreads. Ask my plus size and dark skin sisters how often they see their likeness in the magazines they patronize before you get mad at Karl Lagerfeld saying no one wants to see real women. Why be mad at French Vogue for Black face & not mad at Tyra Bank’s Top Model show for Black face? We need to clean our own house before trying to clean up someone else’s because at the end of the day serving us is not on their to do list of priorities. Let’s focus on what we are doing for our own inclusion in the multibillion dollar business of fashion .

Check out what we should be giving our attention & press to in order to keep rising in our global representation since fashion & spending power is bigger than the runways of New York & Europe.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/business/media/05magazine.html

Should we be spending our time helping to spread this message instead of focusing on what we can do as a people to claim our own stake in the fashion industry.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shaena-henry/designers-bring-africa-to_b_327284.html

http://www.honeymag.com/message/story/view.castle?g=679901&m=7965891

http://threadbared.blogspot.com/2009/10/blackface-and-violence-of-revulsion.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/fashion/2009/10/13/2009-10-13_supermodel_lara_stone_poses_in_blackface_for_french_vogue_photoshoot_.html

This was an interesting blog I found from the Brazilian perspective of Black exclusion in fashion
http://mattersofrace.blogspot.com/2009/06/brazil-files-race-runway-sao-paulo.html

elections.peacefmonline.com/politics/200910/29059.php#

The fact that Ghanaians would criticize the VP for being true to his roots & culture rather than wearing Western clothes just shows the ignorance & slave mentality that some still have. To many in the world his dressing evokes a tradition of African kings & royalty in the richness of African fabrics & colors. We can never move forward if we can’t celebrate & respect our own culture & traditions rather than thinking that “White is right” or the Western way is the best way. To each his own in how they choose to dress, express themselves & be comfortable in their own skin, but I have a great respect for the African leaders & their wives who choose traditional dress over western wear. The fashion industry is a huge multi billion dollar industry in many western countries & can be the same in Africa if we chose to patronize our own culture & tradition. For a western celebrity, president, VP or first lady to wear a local designer is seen as being able to launch an unknown designer’s career overnight because of the exposure. Look at what Michelle Obama & many celebrities have done for the businesses of American/western designers.

Before we were introduced to suits & ties we had our own culture of dress which we should patronize & globalize to help boost our own economy, just as westerners patronize & globalize their own way of dress. Think Globally, Shop Locally!