Tyra Banks gathered many of the models from Vogue Italia’s July All-Black
Model issue on Tuesday in New York to tape a segment for her talk show, scheduled
to air Sept. 11 during Fashion Week in New York. I would have expected Miss Naomi
Campbell to be front and center but the diva was MIA.

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Maybe she couldn’t pull herself away from her Russian billionaire luva but
it seems like she would have welcomed the opportunity to appear on the show, especially
now that she and her former bitter rival Tyra ended their 14-year feud in November
2005 with Naomi’s appearance on The Tyra Banks Show. And since Miss
Naomi dominated that Vogue Italia issue.

The issue was so popular that it sold out on newsstands across the United States,
despite the hefty $16-$20 price tag. Conde Nast printed an extra 10,000 and polybagged
them with the tagline “Black Issue: The Most Wanted Issue Ever.”

While Vogue Italia can be applauded for using black models at a time when
many publications shun them, the sad part is that there was a glaring omission of
black models in the ads.

Steven Meisel, the photographer for the issue, has been quoted as saying: “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.”

How ironic that advertising pages were up 30% for that issue, according to href="http://www.foliomag.com">Folio. I guess black models are good enough
to garner publicity but not good enough to hire.

TAGS: Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks

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